Four years after its grand opening, the Kazungula Bridge, a symbol of regional connectivity and trade, has become a battleground for a simmering border dispute between Zimbabwe and Botswana. The US$259.3 million project, hailed as a triumph of collaboration, is now mired in controversy over the precise location of a crucial border beacon, BB842.
The 923-meter bridge, spanning the Zambezi River and linking Zambia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe, was intended to foster economic integration. However, the placement of BB842 has ignited a territorial row, with Botswana alleging the beacon was incorrectly positioned during a routine border verification exercise.
Despite numerous high-level diplomatic meetings, including a recent encounter between Zimbabwe’s Minister of Lands, Anxious Masuka, and Botswana’s then-Lands Minister, Kefentse Mzwinila, the dispute remains unresolved. Zimbabwe, sources suggest, maintains a robust argument that the bridge itself encroaches upon its designated territory.
“There is a reaffirmation of border beacons, which is a routine periodic exercise, and Botswana decided that the last beacon by the river (Zambezi) BB842 is in the wrong position,” an anonymous source revealed, highlighting the ongoing impasse.
Edwin Guvaza, Zimbabwe’s Surveyor General, confirmed the unresolved nature of the dispute, noting that sensitive aspects of the negotiations precluded public disclosure. “This issue is still ongoing. Some matters are confidential and cannot be addressed through the press,” he stated, adding that the matter is now being handled at the highest levels of government.
Attempts to solicit comment from Botswana officials, including acting Lands Minister Edwin Dikoloti, Water and Human Settlements Minister Onneetse Ramogapi, and government spokesperson Montlenyane Baaitse, proved unsuccessful.
The core of the dispute revolves around Botswana’s assertion that BB842 was misplaced, a claim Zimbabwe vehemently rejects. This disagreement has cast a long shadow over the Kazungula Bridge project, threatening to undermine the very spirit of regional cooperation it was designed to embody.
As tensions linger, the fate of the bridge and the delicate relationship between Zimbabwe and Botswana hang in the balance. The ongoing diplomatic wrangling underscores the complexities of border demarcation and the potential for infrastructure projects, intended to unite, to instead divide.
