Katima Mulilo border soon to start 24-hour operations

Home affairs, immigration, safety and security minister Albert Kawana has revealed that the Katima Mulilo border post between Namibia and Zambia will soon start to operate on a 24-hour basis.

Kawana revealed this during his closing remarks at the two-week joint customer service training of Zambezi regional border officials on Friday.

Through this joint training, about 146 border and checkpoint officials from the ministries of health and social services, agriculture, water and land reform, the Namibia Revenue Agency, the Road Fund Administration, and Love Justice were trained on how to deliver quality customer service to travellers.

According to Kawana, the 24-hour operations of the Katima Mulilo border will be effective on 31 July, and it will be the busiest border post as a result.

He said the decision, among others, was taken in April, when he hosted the Zambian minister of home affairs and internal security, Jacob Mwiimbu.

“We are determined to grow our economy by promoting trade between Namibia and other countries. We are determined to ensure that the volume of traffic between Namibia and Zambia increases. With goods from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Walvis Bay has the potential to expand. The Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lumbumbashi corridor is currently the fastest-growing economic corridor in Namibia,” he said.

Kawana reminded the border officials that they carry a huge responsibility in the way they treat travellers, which determines whether they will come back to Namibia.

“The more politely you treat foreign guests, the more trade you bring to Namibia. This will result in our economy growing to create employment for our citizens, especially the youth and women who are mostly affected by unemployment,” he said.