Home Affairs gears up for festive season

THE Department of Home Affairs is gearing itself to deal with high volumes of travellers at all the country’s ports of entry during the festive season.

The department, in collaboration with other border law enforcement agencies and six countries sharing borders with South Africa, have finalised plans for the 2019/20 festive season.

The plans, which will become operational from 4 December until 13 January 2020, are aimed at helping navigate the festive season period of heightened movement across South Africa’s ports in the interest of all travellers.

In other related news: Heat map to detect long queues at Home Affairs

“The Lebombo Port of Entry with Mozambique and the Oshoek Port of Entry with the Kingdom of Eswatini will operate for 24 hours on some dates during this period. Border law enforcement entities have confirmed readiness to handle increased volumes of travellers and goods at all ports of entry. This increase in movement of people and goods, across borders is due to the inflow and outflow of travellers such as tourists, cross-border workers, business, academics and educational activities,” the department said in a statement.

The department said that close to 400 additional officials will be deployed at selected ports to assist with delivery of immigration services and offer technical support at the borders. Most of the officials will be at the Beit Bridge Port of Entry with Zimbabwe, Lebombo, Maseru Bridge Port of Entry with Lesotho, and the Ficksburg Port of Entry with Lesotho.

The department also implored all travellers leaving and entering South Africa to ensure all their travel documents are in order to avoid unnecessary delays at ports. These include passports, visas, health certificates, permits for specified goods, plants and animals, and vehicle insurance and bank authorised cross-border documents for vehicles.

Read also: Home Affairs relaxes travel requirements for child tourists

You can also sign up for news alerts on Telegram. Send us a Telegram message (not an SMS) with your name and surname (ONLY) to 060 532 5532.  

Here’s where you can download Telegram on Android or Apple.