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Chirundu and Nakonde to operate 24-7 as ZRA takes on 150 new employees

The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has with immediate effect started operating 24-7 at Chirundu for the next one week while Nakonde has resumed the normal 24-7 as before the shutdown.
Authority Commissioner General, Kingsley Chanda says this is in consultation with other Revenue Authorities in the region particularly Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
“The Authority is working with other Government Agencies to ensure that travelers and the general public are served in an efficient manner and reduce congestion at the borders,” Mr. Chanda Said.
He explained that the Covid 19 Pandemic has created a huge upsurge in traffic volumes at Chirundu and Nakonde border posts in the past weeks due to traffic diversions from other entry points attributable to health measures implemented by some transit countries in the region.
Mr. Chanda said this has further caused enormous pressure on the social and health amenities to the communities at the two entry points and if left unchecked may exacerbate the current pandemic.
“This measure will also reduce the costs of doing business in the country and these measures shall be reviewed in line with the prevailing situation at the time,” he said.
“The Authority would like to encourage all importers, exporters and clearing agents to take advantage of the online platforms to lodge in entries from anywhere any time.”
He added that this is because the Authority has increased human resource capacity for the two borders to ensure speedy processing of all entries.
Mr. Chanda noted that the Authority has further recruited 150 new employees to help deal with the situation. These are part of the 1200 applicants mainly from the major public and private universities in Zambia who did their aptitude tests in February 2020.
The list of candidates was advertised in the Print media February 2020 and the aptitude tests took place on 15th February 2020.
“500 participants passed their aptitude tests and further went to do personal interviews were the 150 final candidates have been employed,” Mr Chanda explained.
He said the Authority is aiming to increase its numbers in terms of human resource but due to budgetary constraints only 150 additional headcounts was approved for the 2020.
The new officers will report for training on Monday next week and will be dispatched to their various stations countrywide after graduation from training.

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