By Thapelo Molefe
Despite operating at only 24% of its required staffing capacity, the Border Management Authority (BMA) says it is managing increased festive-season travel volumes through extensive collaboration with other government departments and neighbouring countries.
Briefing the media on Saturday, BMA commissioner Michael Masiapato said the authority is under significant pressure during the annual peak travel period, which began last week Wednesday and runs through to mid-January, but has put contingency measures in place to ensure ports of entry continue functioning.
“This is one of our busiest periods. Everyone is on duty, there are no rest days,” Masiapato said, adding that the authority is currently facing a staff shortage of more than 70%.
“That is the unfortunate reality, but we still have the responsibility to implement our mandate.”
To plug the gap, the BMA has deployed officials from other spheres of government across the country’s major ports of entry.
At OR Tambo International Airport, officials from the Gauteng Department of Safety and Security are assisting immigration operations, while about 50 municipal officials are supporting operations at Cape Town International Airport.
At land ports such as Ficksburg, tourism monitors from the Department of Tourism have been deployed to help manage traveller flows.
In total, about 160 additional officials are assisting the BMA nationally during the festive operation.
Masiapato said while collaboration has helped stabilise operations, staffing shortages remain a major challenge, alongside poor infrastructure at several ports of entry.
He conceded that many facilities are outdated and not suited to efficiently processing high volumes of pedestrians, buses, private vehicles and trucks simultaneously.
“This is not the kind of infrastructure that we actually need to be able to do this work more effectively,” he said.
To address this, the BMA is moving ahead with public-private partnerships to redevelop six key commercial land ports, including Beitbridge, Lebombo, Oshoek, Ficksburg, Maseru Bridge and Kopfontein.
The projects are expected to commence in the new financial year, pending final approval from National Treasury.
Despite these constraints, the authority pointed to several operational successes. Masiapato said coordinated corridor management, particularly along the N1 to Beitbridge, has significantly reduced congestion that historically characterised festive travel.
This has been achieved through partnerships with the Road Traffic Management Corporation, provincial traffic authorities and cross-border transport agencies.
On enforcement, the BMA says it has intercepted more than 595,000 people attempting to enter the country illegally since it began operating, stopped nearly 395 vehicles linked to illicit activity, and seized cigarettes valued at close to R1 billion along the northern border.
The authority is also preparing for a return to pre-Covid travel volumes, with projections suggesting that more than six million travellers could be processed this season, mostly through 10 high-volume ports that handle over 75% of all movements.
Masiapato urged travellers to use official ports of entry, arrive prepared with correct documentation, and avoid dangerous informal crossings.
“We will definitely be able to process people accordingly, provided they come through the port with the requisite documents,” he said, warning that additional resources remain critical for the BMA to fully deliver on its mandate.
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