Border checks halted

Press, 28 August 1986, Page 10

Border checks halted

NZPA-Reuter Johannesburg South Africa said yesterday that it was halting today (NZ time) border searches of traffic carrying exports from Zimbabwe and Zambia. Zimbabwe’s national news agency, Ziana, reported earlier that South Africa had stepped up the border searches, delaying each truck at least 30 hours.

Customs officers began time-consuming inspections of exports from Zambia and Zimbabwe

that cross South Africa three weeks ago. Both black States are at the forefront of a campaign for economic sanctions against Pretoria because of apartheid.

The searches were widely interpreted as part of an economic war of nerves over the sanctions issue, but the South African Government said they were imposed to compile a statistical picture of trade with the two countries.

The Foreign Affairs Department said, “The statistical survey bf the export

traffic from Zimbabwe and Zambia, via the South African transport network, will be discontinued as from Wednesday August 27, 1986.

“The information gathered since August 4 is considered to be sufficient for the present.”

The Foreign Minister, Mr Roelof Botha, said in a Parliamentary reply yesterday that Pretoria had from time to time held discussions with Zimbabwe on the effect sanctions would have on South Africa’s neighbours.