Dirty Gateway To Namibia

ALLOW me space in your newspaper to bring forward a constructive argument with regard to Ariamsvlei Border Post in the south.

I constantly use Ariamsvlei when traveling to South Africa by road. I have kept the embarrassment to myself because I thought the relevant authorities could also see with their own eyes.The buildings at the border are very old, built during the colonial time I guess.Inside these old buildings, you find papers pasted on the wall with what looks like chewing gum.The walls are dirty, making things even worse, and the staff at the border don’t have computers.Everything is manual and employees are unhelpful.I think this is one incentive to corruption.As you enter the building, there are some instructions written on a piece of a cardboard box with a marker pen.Does this mean the Ministry of Home Affairs can’t even afford a typed and printed page and some sort of lamination? It is really a shame, because a border is a gateway to a country and is where everything begins.Any new person entering the country will start criticising it from that point onwards.If one can compare, a few kilometres to the south is South Africa’s Nakop Border Post.At Nakop things are different.Buildings look relatively new and attractive, and of the latest architectural design.Everything is neat, immigration officers use computers to record people entering and leaving South Africa, they have a powerful database and all staff are computer literate.As a country, we really need to do something to change our mindset if ours is a dream to succeed.Given this situation and other similar cases, I see Vision 2030 dead and buried.Our task is only to accompany Vision 2030 to its resting place – the graveyard.We need to feel proud when entering our country from outside.I’m sure this is not only true of Ariamsvlei but other border posts as well.Mjo WindhoekI have kept the embarrassment to myself because I thought the relevant authorities could also see with their own eyes.The buildings at the border are very old, built during the colonial time I guess.Inside these old buildings, you find papers pasted on the wall with what looks like chewing gum.The walls are dirty, making things even worse, and the staff at the border don’t have computers.Everything is manual and employees are unhelpful.I think this is one incentive to corruption.As you enter the building, there are some instructions written on a piece of a cardboard box with a marker pen.Does this mean the Ministry of Home Affairs can’t even afford a typed and printed page and some sort of lamination? It is really a shame, because a border is a gateway to a country and is where everything begins.Any new person entering the country will start criticising it from that point onwards.If one can compare, a few kilometres to the south is South Africa’s Nakop Border Post.At Nakop things are different.Buildings look relatively new and attractive, and of the latest architectural design.Everything is neat, immigration officers use computers to record people entering and leaving South Africa, they have a powerful database and all staff are computer literate.As a country, we really need to do something to change our mindset if ours is a dream to succeed.Given this situation and other similar cases, I see Vision 2030 dead and buried.Our task is only to accompany Vision 2030 to its resting place – the graveyard.We need to feel proud when entering our country from outside.I’m sure this is not only true of Ariamsvlei but other border posts as well.Mjo Windhoek