Mozambican Buses Still Using Eswatini Route To South Africa

By Jorge Joaquim

Mozambican transporters on the Maputo-Durban route are still driving through Eswatini to reach South Africa, 123km further than using the Ponta de Ouro border route, for fear of attacks on the SA side.

The president of a transport association, Frederico Lucas, said that in addition to the extra fuel costs it increases bureaucracy, as they cross two borders.

South African transporters, meanwhile, are able to use the Ponta de Ouro border, giving them an unfair competitive advantage, he said.

Fear of travelling to Durban affects passengers as well as bus operators.

The fire actions follow a series of events in the past months in which communities in  South Africa have protested and torched vehicles with Mozambican number plates or those driven by Mozambicans.

The protests, the angry residents say, are in retaliation for the persistent hijacking and abduction of citizens, who are dropped off at the border and their vehicles spirited across the border into Mozambique.