About 2.4 million people will be travelling across the country and over SA’s borders on buses and trains today.
Joburg streets are expected to be gridlocked this afternoon with cars and taxis as the annual exodus of people going home for Christmas begins.
Fleet Africa New Town Cross Border Terminal, dubbed “Zimbabwe bus station”, was already bustling yesterday with people loading everything from fridges to furniture onto large bus trailers.
This morning, 30 buses were to depart for the Zimbabwean capital Harare, each carrying a full load of 70 passengers. There are two buses leaving for Malawi and one for Botswana, both fully booked.
Bus operations manager Sianda Sekeleni said there are two main types of cross-border travellers during the festive season, namely informal traders and migrant workers.
Margret Banda, 23, who was yesterday lying on her luggage waiting for her bus to Blantyre, Malawi, is one of the informal traders.
“I have been in Fordsburg for four days, sourcing groceries. It will take us about two days to get to Malawi, depending on the borders. They can take hours if the officials want to be difficult,” she said.
The bus station is situated near the Oriental Plaza and China City, making it the ideal hub for cross-border traders capitalising on cheap SA goods. Banda’s bags carried everything from chips to chicken, and her ticket home cost R700.
Then there are the migrant workers like Shingirai Antonio, 29, with her R500 ticket to Harare in one hand and her six-year-old daughter strapped to her back.
“I am a door-to-door salesperson. I have been here all year and can’t wait to go back to my village,” she said.
Her bags were filled with Christmas gifts like clothes, shoes and a mattress.
Her journey of 1 500km should take her 15 hours if she has a smooth border experience and the bus does not break down.
Joburg’s Park station, southern Africa’s biggest railway station, was also chaotic yesterday.
“It’s a flood of people, not just an increase,” said Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa centre manager Donald Ndlovu. He said bus and train companies increased capacity by as much as 40 percent during the festive season.
But it wasn’t just people heading north across the border who were congregating at the station.
“I’m going to spend Christmas in Cape Town with my family for the first time in three years,” said Alphonso Adonis, 25, who came to Joburg to work as a personal trainer. - The Star