South Africa’s Border Management Authority (BMA) says it has stopped 410 000 people attempting to enter the country illegally since the deployment of the first cohort of the border guards in July 2022.

Briefing journalists on Monday on the entity’s festive season preparation, BMA commissioner Michael Masiapato said that the majority of those were arrested, fingerprinted, declared undesirable for a period of five years, and deported. He added:

Further, we have been able to detect about 312 high-value vehicles which were meant to illegally exit the country to other jurisdictions in the continent.

In this regard, the matters were handed over to SAPS detectives for further investigations.

Masiapato also said the BMA will start using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) to improve security at the country’s borders. He said:

Whilst awaiting the delivery of our drones, in this festive season we have forged a partnership with the Department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development which will be deploying their drones to assist us with an enhanced level of border security and domain awareness at problematic vulnerable segments, the ports and the corridors.

Drone operations will be supported by mobile reaction units which would be situated at, or closer to, the ports of entry to allow for quick reaction and apprehension of illegal migrants and other cross-border criminals.

He reminded all travellers leaving and or entering South Africa to ensure that all their travel documents are in order. Said Masiapato:

As required by international protocols, all travellers should be in possession of a valid machine-readable passport and a valid visa where applicable.

Furthermore, travellers are reminded that their passports should have at least one empty page in order to enable the BMA immigration team members to accordingly stamp the passports as required.

This message is also relevant during the return leg in January 2025 as all travellers are expected to present themselves at the designated ports of entry to enter South Africa.

As for those wishing to cross the border using financed vehicles, they should be in possession of a letter from their financing institution authorising them to exit the country with the vehicle.

Parents wishing to travel with minor children have been advised to have the child’s unabridged birth certificate with them, unless the child’s details are endorsed in the parents’ passport. Said Masiapato:

In cases where one parent is traveling with a child in the absence of another parent, a consent letter from the absent parent granting permission to the other parent to exit the country with the child will be required.

This requirement is mainly applicable to South Africans intending to exit the country with children.

Considering the expected high volumes in this festive period, we would like to appeal to all travellers to plan their travel early and exercise patience on the roads towards ports.

Masiapato also said that the BMA will be deploying 69 additional personnel at selected busiest ports of entry to assist with the delivery of services and provision of technical support to the regular staff members.

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