Meat worth over R9 million, insulin injections, cosmetics, car parts and dagga valued at over R1 million were denied entry into SA during border control operations which ran from 26 March to 4 April.
Presenting the 2024 Easter Plan report on Sunday, Border Management Authority (BMA) commissioner Dr Mike Masiapato said the agency facilitated 136 250 travellers across South Africa’s 71 ports of entry.
Border guards intercepted and denied entry to about seven cargo consignments of meat worth about R929 4551, which were destined to enter South Africa through the port of Cape Town due to non-compliance.
“They also seized about 748 kg of non-compliant regulated agricultural products at various ports of entry.”
“BMA health specialists screened about 91743 travellers for various infectious and or communicable diseases and seized about 120 tablets, 57658 mg of medications, 59530 ml of cosmetics and about 50 insulin injections,” said Masiapato.
Dagga valued at R2602500 was seized and destroyed in both Grobler’s Bridge port of entry to Botswana and Caledonspoort port of entry to Lesotho.
“Another joint operation by officials of the SAPS, South African Reserve Service (SARS) and BMA included 217 master cases of counterfeit cigarettes with the value of R3 351 690 at the Lebombo port of entry from Mozambique en route to South Africa.”
“Other operations include the interception of 573 items of counterfeit alcohol, 272 pairs of counterfeit clothing and parts of a Toyota Hilux 4 x 4 worth R150000.”
Masiapato said guards working with police arrested 143 people for committing various crimes and transgressions within the ports of entry and the border law enforcement area.
“The majority of these individuals served as facilitators of illegal activities around the ports of entry and were therefore charged for aiding and abetting. Interestingly, one individual was arrested at Lebombo port of entry to Mozambique while in possession of 13 passports attempting to bribe an immigration specialist with some banknotes which were placed in between the pages of the individual passports.”
Masiapato revealed that 3841 people attempted to enter South Africa illegally. Since the BMA’s deployment last April, more than 281 000 people tried to unlawfully enter the country.
He said that there was a decrease in the number of undocumented and unaccompanied minors arriving at ports of entry this Easter.
Eight penalties were issued to some bus companies found transporting illegal migrants in various ports of entry to the value of R270000.
“At this point, we would like to send a stern warning to all conveyers to desist from transporting illegal migrants in or out of South Africa.”
The agency intercepted five children at the Beitbridge port of entry on 28 March. The children were handed over to the Department of Social Development and have since been returned to their home country.
Masiapato mentioned an incident involving a child at the Grobler’s Bridge port of entry where a woman was attempting to exit South Africa to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) via Botswana.
“The supposed ‘mother’ did not have a passport but was carrying an Emergency Travel Document, which was issued by the embassy of the DRC and the child was completely undocumented. They were both handed over to the colleagues of the Department of Social Development who processed and took them to the place of safety within Limpopo.”
Masiapato said the BMA remained committed to “robustly confronting the complex challenges associated with border management across all modalities, ranging from sea, land and air.”
