Johnathan Paoli
The Border Management Authority (BMA) has announced its preparedness for the high number of travelers expected at the various entry points during the Easter Weekend.
Commissioner Michael Masiapato briefed the media at the launch of its four-phase Easter Operational Plan in Pretoria on Monday and said that several measures are in effect to ensure smooth operations at ports of entry across the country.
Masiapato said South African officials were in discussions with their counterparts in neighbouring countries on effective ways to improve and facilitate the safe and regulated movement of travelers across the borders.
“Even in this Easter period we engaged our counterparts in Lesotho as well as Botswana and agreed on extended operating hours which are not operating on a 24-hour basis,” he said.
Masiapato said the BMA will be deploying an additional 400 junior border guards to assist with law enforcement.
“Upon realising the need for additional capacity we increased our human resource deployment for immigration, law enforcement duties as well as providing capacity for operational and tactical support across our ports of entry,” the commissioner said.
He said that in spite of the fact that the additional junior border guards were currently at college, the occasion would prove an opportunity for experiential learning at the ports.
“They have been trained across all of the various activities that take place at the ports and our targeted ports are the busiest ports of entry to assist with the delivery of services,” Masiapato said.
Around one million people are expected to travel across the South African border over the Easter period.
The commissioner said that statistics for the Easter period last year showed that the ports of entry which facilitated the majority of people: were Beitbridge to Zimbabwe, Lebombo into Mozambique, Groblersbridge into Botswana, Maseru and Ficksburg bridge into Lesotho, OR Tambo and Cape Town International Airport, Oshoek into eSwatini and Kopfontein to Botswana as well as Caledonspoort to Lesotho.
“We have reinforced our deployment in order to improve our detection rate for illicit goods, narcotics including cigarette contra bands, the issue of livestock across our land ports as well as stolen vehicles, which remains a concern for the BMA,” Masiapato said.
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