Border Bottlenecks Beware: SARS and Lesotho Team Up to Speed Things Up

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Forget long queues and red tape—SARS is taking a stopwatch to the border.

This May and June, SARS and the Lesotho Revenue Service (RSL) will be running Time Release Studies (TRS) at the Maseru Bridge and Ficksburg Border Post. Think of it as a customs time trial: tracking how long goods take from arrival to clearance, so the process can get faster, smoother, and smarter.

Here’s the schedule:

🛃 Maseru Bridge

• Training: 5–9 May

• TRS in action: 12–16 May

🛃 Ficksburg Border Post

• Training: 26–30 May

• TRS in action: 2–6 June

The TRS is a World Customs Organization tool used worldwide to boost trade efficiency and cut delays. It's also part of South Africa’s commitment to the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement.

Why it matters to accountants

If your clients import, export, or operate across borders, these insights could soon influence logistics, costs, and compliance timelines.

📣 Let your trade clients know – and stay tuned for findings that could reshape the future of Southern Africa’s supply chains.

Read the official letter from SARS here.