How controlled are SA’s border posts?
The recent fleeing of Prophet Bushiri, who left the country for Malawi undetected, has opened up a huge debate about the state of the country’s border posts.
Joining the fray were Nkomazi Local Municipality and Ehlanzeni District Municipality, which raised concerns regarding open borders which lead to people entering the country illegally and undocumented.
Nkomazi Local Municipality, led by municipal manager, Dan Ngwenya, and the district municipality represented by its manager, Sigananda Siboza, visited Lebombo Border Post last Wednesday to get first-hand experience on the state of the border.
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High on their agenda was the issue of Covid-19 compliance, especially by visiting foreign nationals from Mozambique and Swaziland. While monitoring the borders, a group of people from and to Mozambique could be seen getting off taxis and walking into the Lebombo Mountains to avoid the legal border gate.
“Some of these people don’t have passports while some avoid being tested for Covid-19. This creates a huge problem for us. “When we speak of our municipality being deeply affected and vulnerable to crime and illnesses like Covid-19, it is because of such undocumented, people coming in and out of the country.”
The officials also went to Orlando Village in Komatipoort where they found that at least 70 per cent of the people staying there are not South African documented citizens.
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“This is another alarming situation because many of these undocumented people easily get away after committing crime,” Ngwenya pointed out. He said there are children born in South Africa from undocumented parents and as a result they also end up undocumented.
“Part of the issues that needs to be addressed is the kids who are born here to parents who are undocumented, who live here in Orlando. These children are undocumented too. “It becomes impossible for government to help these kids because they are not regarded as citizens,” said Ngwenya.
Siboza said the problems which are seen as a security threat are going to be communicated to the provincial command council and the deputy ministers of related departments that deal with border safety.
