Mhlumeni Border on verge of opening

SITEKI – Travellers to Mozambique can heave a sigh of relief as government is on the verge of reopening the Mhlumeni Border Gate following the notable decline in COVID-19 infections and death rates in the country.

Last week Thursday, Prime Minister Cleopas Dlamini announced an adjustment of relaxing the COVID-19 measures to Level 2 with the curfew now starting at 9pm to 4am.

The PM also announced the extension of shopping hours from 6am to 7pm from Monday to Friday, with the sale of alcohol permitted from 9am until 5pm.

According to Chief Immigration Officer Makhosi Simelane, the re-opening of some of the closed port of entries would be done soon considering that the country was now on Level 2.

Enforced

The border gate has been closed since the country enforced the COVID-19 regulations early this year. An alternative border gate to Maputo is Lomahasha, which has been operational. Southern Star Logistics, a truck hauling fuel from Maputo has been using the port of entry after the eruption of violence in Durban due to the political unrest in the country between June and July.

Simelane stated that anything was possible from now onwards, if the infection figures continue to decline and an increase in the number of people vaccinated would be fundamental.

He stated that the other five ports of entry comprising of Nsalitje, Lundzi, Sandlane, Gege, Bulembu and Sicunusa would also be opened.

Meanwhile, five ports of entry that are operational are Mahamba, Ngwenya, Lavumisa, Matsamo and Mananga.