Cross BorderKopfontein Gate – [Tlokweng]
The Kopfontein Gate Border Post between South Africa
and Botswana is very popular as it provides a short and
direct route from the border to the capital city of
Gaborone.
The road to the border turns from the N4 National toll
route [Bakwena Platinum Highway] at Zeerust and passes the
Madikwe Game Reserve. The gate is about 90 kms from Zeerust
and from the border to Gaborone is a further 34 kms. The buildings and facilities at this border crossing were
upgraded in the 1990s and are modern and effective.
The border post is open from 06.00 through to 22.00 each
day.
Freight vehicle traffic through the border at Kopfontein
amounts to approximately 160 vehicles per day giving an
annual amount of about 50,000 freight vehicle movements per
year.
Kopfontein Gate
|
The estimated tons of goods crossing the border amounts to
870,000 tons per year with the main commodities being
fuels, machinery and vehicles, perishables and general
cargo such as furnishings, household goods and foodstuffs.
The main classes of dangerous goods are fuel and caustic
soda.
Lobatse Border PostThe Lobatse border post is on the N4 national route on the
South African side and links onto the Trans-Kgalagadi
[Trans-Kalahari] route through to Namibia on the Botswana
side of the border.
The border post is open from 06.00 through to 22.00
each
day.
Lobatse is a busy border post with approximately 150
freight vehicles per day crossing the border . The
estimated annual tonnage crossing the border is about 1
million tons, making it the most important border post for
SA-Botswana trade by road.
The most important commodities at this point are, fuel
[350,000 tons p.a.], iron and steel, chemicals and
timber.
Lobatse Gate
|
It is noteworthy that over 60% of the freight vehicles
using this border post are long distance interlink and
longer combination vehicles, indicating a large proportion
of freight coming from various origins in South Africa and
Namibia.
The Trans Kalahari route is used for movements of livestock
from the Gobabis area of Namibia to abattoirs in the
Johannesburg and Germiston.
Ramathlabama Border PostThe border post at Ramathlabama is the point at which the
main rail line from the Western Cape to Botswana and
Zimbabwe crosses the border. It is also an important direct
route from Mmabatho and Mafikeng into Botswana.
The border post is open from 06.00 through to 22.00
each
day.
Approximately 140 road freight vehicles per day cross
the
border with the main commodities being cement, general
cargo under tarpaulins, perishables and some livestock. The
annual amount transported by road through this border post
is estimated at 850,000 tons.
Mafikeng: General view of the yard and station area with Botswana Railway diesels
|
The railway line through the border at this point carries
annually, over 500,000 tons of cement from Slurry to
Botswana and 550,000 tons of fuels from Tarlton, as well as
fertiliser and maize from Gauteng, and about 3500
containers of general cargo.
Traffic from Botswana includes 180,000 tons of Sodium
Carbonate [Soda ash], 80,000 tons of salt and 3500 tons of
scrap metal.
|
