Chaos at Nakop border post

A Namibian transport company confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that its trucks were forced to wait for hours in a 30 km-long queue at the South African Nakop border post before being allowed through.

Motorists, trucks and buses filled with passengers had been waiting for hours since Monday morning due to power outages at the border post, according to reports.

Passengers' passports could not be scanned and were only processed later after customs officials manually stamped them. According to witness statements, some bus passengers, including the elderly and babies, eventually ran out of fresh water and food, while cattle on livestock trucks had to stand in the sun for hours.

According to reports, the border post near Ariamsvlei has been experiencing power outages for the past two weeks due to Eskom’s load shedding. A generator was reportedly used at the border post for several hours but encountered issues. A technician allegedly arrived later to repair the generator, “but it is now as dead as a doornail,” a source said on Tuesday.

The high traffic volume is also partly due to some of the border posts between Namibia, Botswana and South Africa being temporarily closed because of road damage caused by recent heavy rainfall.

– [email protected]