Mozambique-Zimbabwe: The commodities lifeline

Harare: It is 7am at the main long-distance bus terminus in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. The roof-rack of a battered 75-seater bus is piled high with goods, from bales of dried tobacco leaves to reed mats, in preparation for the 24-hour journey south-east to the town of Sango, in Chiredzi district on the Mozambican border.

"We go to the Sango border every Wednesday morning and if we travel without any problems we arrive there early on Thursday morning. It is a long journey of over 500 kilometres," a bus conductor for the Mukumba Brothers transport company, who declined to be named, told IRIN.

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