By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Border Management Authority (BMA) on Sunday said, that a total of 1,136,250 travelers passed through the country’s 71 ports of entry during this year’s Easter holiday.
The figure represents an increase of 24 percent when compared with the same holiday last year.
The Border Management Authority Commissioner Mike Masiapato briefed the media on its Easter weekend operations.
The OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, the Lebombo port of entry to Mozambique, and Beitbridge port of entry to Zimbabwe are the top three ports that processed the majority of travelers with a total of 528,042 individuals, said Masiapato.
The BMA had deployed more than 400 junior border guards at some critical land ports to assist in facilitating the movement of travelers, which gave a boost to the country’s tourism, he said.
A total of 3,841 people attempting to enter South Africa illegally during the Easter period were intercepted, according to Masiapato.
“Out of this number of intercepted individuals, about 2,403 did not have any documents at all, about 1,019 were refused entry for being undesirable, and about 419 were found inadmissible to enter the country due to various reasons.
“A majority of those arrested without documents were intercepted at the vulnerable segments of the borderline. They were processed, declared undesirable for five years and were deported.”
At the same time, Masiapato said there has been a decrease in the number of undocumented and unaccompanied minors at the country’s ports of entry.
Although this was a positive development, the agency intercepted five children at the Beitbridge port of entry on 28 March 2024.
The children were handed over to the Department of Social Development and have since been returned to their home country.
He also shared about the incident involving a child at the Grobler’s Bridge port of entry where a woman was attempting to exit South Africa to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) via Botswana.
“The supposed ‘mother’ did not have a passport but was carrying an Emergency Travel Document, which was issued by the embassy of the DRC and the child was completely undocumented. They were both handed over to the colleagues of the Department of Social Development who processed and took them to the place of safety within Limpopo.”
In addition, eight penalties were issued to some bus companies found transporting illegal migrants in various ports of entry to the value of R270 000.
“At this point, we would like to send a stern warning to all conveyers to desist from transporting illegal migrants in or out of South Africa.”
The border guards also managed to intercept and deny entry to about seven cargo consignments of meat worth about R9 294 551 which were destined to enter South Africa through the port of Cape Town due to non-compliance.
They also seized about 748 kg of non-compliant regulated agricultural products at various ports of entry.
In the period of 10 days, BMA health specialists screened about 91 743 travellers for various infectious and or communicable diseases and seized about 120 tablets, 57 658 mg of medications, 59 530 ml of cosmetics and about 50 insulin injections.
The guards working with the SAPS arrested about 143 individuals for committing various crimes and transgressions within the ports of entry and the border law enforcement area.
“The majority of these individuals served as facilitators of illegal activities around the ports of entry and were therefore charged for aiding and abetting. Interestingly, one individual was arrested at Lebombo port of entry to Mozambique while in possession of 13 passports attempting to bribe an immigration specialist with some banknotes which were placed in between the pages of the individual passports.”
In addition, about R641 of dagga with the value of R2 602 500 was seized and destroyed in both Grobler’s Bridge port of entry to Botswana and Caledonspoort port of entry to Lesotho.
Another joint operation by officials of the SAPS, South African Reserve Service (SARS) and BMA included 217 master cases of counterfeit cigarettes with the value of R3 351 690 at the Lebombo port of entry from Mozambique en route to South Africa.
Other operations include the interception of 573 items of counterfeit alcohol, 272 pairs of counterfeit clothing and parts of a Toyota Hilux 4 x 4 worth R150 000.