In its first year plus of operation, South Africa’s Border Management Authority (BMA) encountered the scourge of corruption and, according to its responsible Cabinet minister, is “resolute in clamping down” on this particular form of payola.
This approach, according to Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber, saw 18 BMA officials dismissed in the period April 2023 (when it started operations ahead of the Presidential launch last October) to present and two suspended without pay for a month.
He was answering a Parliamentary question posed by Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) National Assembly (NA) Member of Parliament (MP) Liezl van der Merwe. She wanted to know what Michael Masiapato’s BMA is doing to prevent foreigners entering and leaving South Africa using bribes rather than what she termed “the requisite paperwork”.
All told 57 corruption related cases were received by the BMA. Following investigation and hearings, five were appealed and all dismissed with a further two appeals at an appeals authority committee for further processing. Thirty cases are at “different stages” ranging from disciplinary hearings finalised and outcomes in process to disciplinary hearings still to be heard and some “partially heard”.
Additionally, the IFP MP was told the deployment of 400 additional border guards at vulnerable segments of the borderline and ports of entry are assisting in reducing corrupt activities and harbouring illegal foreigners.
In the pipeline are what Schreiber says are direct interventions in collaboration with various anti-corruption agencies to clamp down at problematic ports of entry and the border law enforcement area.
Also on the way is what the Ministerial response has as a “national targeting centre”. This will be capacitated with skilled officials who will be able to gather enough intelligence and point to areas where corrupt incidents are taking place. Another targeting centre task will be to manage BMA unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) deployment and operations separate from port of entry activities.
BMA efforts to combat fraud and corruption at ports of entry will be augmented by anti-smuggling activities. Additionally, a long term multi-disciplinary plan is under development to address smuggling illegal migrants into South Africa and “neutralise” human smuggling syndicates.
