ALFRED LIBOMBO, Maputo | Monday 1.00pm.
A PILOT binational agreement to promote the free movement of people and goods between Mozambique and South Africa has become bogged down in bureaucratic red tape and budget cuts, Mozambique’s national roads director, Lucas Nhamizinga, said on Monday.
Confirming that the 1997 agreement has still not been implemented, Nhamizinga said that a joint binational committee will meet in Pretoria early next month to redraft portions of the 1997 protocol. The major sticking points, Nhamizinga said, remain weak or nonexistent binational communication channels, Mozambican budget cuts and internal government capacity problems on both sides of the border.
Mozambique’s representatives on the joint commission created by the agreement are currently funded by the World Bank but face a complete funding cut in June. No alternative funding has been found yet and the Mozambican government has also failed to supply bridging funds for existing staff shortages.
The major problems on the South African portion of the joint committee remains its inability to process information requests by their Mozambican counterparts and a failure to co-ordinate regulations and control measures by the multitude of South African authorities dealing with border control. — African Eye News Service