Launch of the 2025 Customs Time Release Study

7 November 2025 – The formal launch of the South Africa and Lesotho Time Release Study (TRS) took place on 6 November 2025, at the Victory Hall in Maseru, Lesotho. This collaborative, cross-border initiative, spearheaded by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and the Revenue Service Lesotho (RSL), represents a rigorous diagnostic assessment of trade efficiency along the Maseru Bridge and Ficksburg Bridge corridors. The key finding is a critical paradox: while internal Customs system processing (Mark for Arrival to Mark for Exit) is remarkably swift (averaging eight to 19 minutes), the overall end-to-end time experienced by the trade community is unacceptably excessive (ranging up to two hours). This disparity proves that the primary barriers to trade facilitation are not technological but are rooted in systemic control gaps, procedural non-compliance, and infrastructure deficiencies, necessitating urgent and comprehensive governance reform.