Zambezi River Basin

Movement of People, Goods and Services

Various arrangements have been put in place

to improve the movement of people in the

basin and in the southern African region as a

whole. In 2005, the leaders of the Southern

African Development Community (SADC)

Member States adopted the Protocol on the

Facilitation of Movement of Persons in the

SADC aimed at developing policies that allow

movement of people across borders in the

SADC region. The new protocol has already

been signed by half of the 15 member states

and is still subject to ratification by two-thirds

of the member states before it enters into

force. It is intended to facilitate visa-free entry,

residence and establishment by individuals

or families in territories of member states

(Madakufamba 2005).

In order to facilitate the easy movement of people,

goods and services between the countries,

one-stop border post arrangements are being

established. This type of border crossing was

piloted at the Chirundu border post between

Zambia and Zimbabwe in 2009 (SARDC 2009a).

Infrastructure such as bridges are being developed

and expanded. This includes the construction of

Kazungula Bridge between Botswana, Zambia and

Zimbabwe and the Katima Mulilo Bridge across

the Zambezi between Namibia and Zambia which

opened in 2005 (SADC and ZRA 2007).

Trucks waiting to cross the Chirundu bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Chirundu Bridge over the Zambezi River between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

WWF