Committee calls for more border resources after almost 60 000 illegal crossing attempts

The Border Management Authority (BMA) stopped several thousand foreign nationals from entering South Africa over the festive season.

The operational successes from early December to mid-January were presented to the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs on Tuesday, with the committee members saying more resources needed to be allocated for border security.

South Africa’s borders monitored just over five million travellers this past festive season, with roughly 60 000 trying to enter the country illegally.

Over 58 000 illegals caught

OR Tambo International Airport saw just over one million people pass through their gates, with Beit Bridge and Ficksburg being the busiest land border crossings with over 600 000 and 400 000 travellers, respectively.

Between 10 December and 15 January, the BMA apprehended 58 394 migrants found to be in contravention of the Immigration Act.

This was more than double the amount from the previous year, where just over 27 000 illegal immigrants were caught during the same period in 2023/24.

The 2024/25 numbers comprised 50 312 undocumented migrants, 6 159 undesirable persons, and 1 923 inadmissible persons.

These individuals were not arrested, but taken to the nearest port of entry, fingerprinted and banned from entering South Africa for the next five years.

“The detections were through thorough searches, mounted roadblocks, vehicle checkpoints and joint operations within the 10km radius inland and joint patrols along vulnerable segments of the borderline,” stated the BMA

“This is attributed to the deployment of drone technology, which drove the detections and response mechanisms within the five problematic ports,’ the entity added.

Lesotho accounts for half

Telle Bridge, located in southern Lesotho, accounted for almost half of the apprehended illegal migrants, with 24 538.

The five leading nationalities of illegal migrants detected were Basotho, Mozambicans, Zimbabweans, Malawians and Swazis.

“Basotho dominated all three categories of undocumented, undesirable and inadmissible with a total of 41 059 apprehensions,” the BMA’s presentation stated.

However, the BMA and police only arrested 322 persons during the festive period. This included 196 Mozambicans, 58 Basotho, 42 Zimbabweans and three South Africans.  

The EFF’s Thapelo Mogale said R200 million had been spent on deporting illegal immigrants and believed it was not possible for the BMA to cover SA’s border with the resources at their disposal.

In addition to the drones and limited procurement underway, BMA currently has 44 patrol vehicles and 28 motorcycles to cover an area stretching the width of southern Africa.

“With these limited resources, we are expecting so much from this particular agency,” said Mogale.

“The money we are spending on deporting people who are going to re-enter the country, that is money we should be reallocating to the BMA to strengthen the capacity.

“Once the capacity of the BMA is strengthened, you’ll know that when you deport a person, they will never be able to re-enter. What we are engaging in is a very self-defeating exercise,” Mogale concluded.

BMA property confiscations

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber was in attendance and agreed with Mogale, adding that several departments within his portfolio could benefit from increased expenditure.

“Because you are progressing, there is higher expectations and that is a challenge the BMA is certainly capable of rising to,” said the minister.

Regarding property seizures at land ports during the festive season, BMA confiscated 38 vehicles, two taxis, one truck and a boat used to try to circumvent the Beit Bridge border post.

Contraband products included 3 310 cartons of cigarettes, 1 915 bottles of alcohol and almost 950kg of marijuana.

The South African Revenue Service secured almost R1.9 million in fines for import and export infringements. In contrast, transporters attempting to cross the border with incorrect permits paid R5.2 million in fines. 

BMA also confiscated 20 tons of fruit and 10 ten tons of vegetables.

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