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Beitbridge Border
More than 100 people have been arrested as they attempted to jump the border at the Beitbridge Border Post in Musina, Limpopo, during the Easter long weekend.
This is according to the commissioner of the Border Management Authority (BMA), Dr Michael Masiapato.
Masiapato says their drones spotted the illegal border jumpers.
He is on a two-day visit to the port of entry to assess the BMA’s Easter safety operations.
The BMA says it has successfully foiled various criminal and illegal activities at the Beitbridge Border Post during the Easter long weekend.
Scores of travellers are now crossing the port of entry to various destinations.
The joint efforts between the BMA and law enforcement agencies resulted in the prevention of illicit activities, including the smuggling of people and goods.
More than 1000 people have been arrested for various illegal activities since last Wednesday, says the BMA commissioner
“We are now actually sitting at the return leg in as far as our Easter operations are concerned. We fairly concluded the exit leg in as far as the implementation of our plan, and that was basically from Tuesday last week until Thursday, so we have been able to implement that successfully now from yesterday. We are on the return leg. Up to this point, I am very much satisfied. I have been briefed by the port management committee, which is a committee of multi-stakeholders that includes the police and BMA, which includes the SANDF.”
Dr Masiapato hailed the use of drones and body-worn cameras to combat crime at the port of entry. “In terms of corruption, the most powerful part of the body cams is that every interaction that our officials have with the traveller is on both audio and virtual in the control room; in other words, in the area of control, where we are able to hear them as they talk to the travellers, even as they interact with them. So that, on its own, what it does is it actually serves as a deterrent so that people will not necessarily discuss nefarious activities with the travellers, to the extent that anybody can be given some kind of figures and stuff like that, which used to be, you know, the occurrence in certain instances. So this time around, should we pick up anybody doing anything like that? Either way, the footage that comes out of this body camera also has the audio; we will be able to use it for consequence management.”
The situation at the country’s other ports of entry has also been smooth, he says. “In terms of the port of entry in general, I can confirm to you that everybody is very much ready to be able to hold the return leg, so it is only here in Beitbridge when we talk about the complexity of the return and the exit being more because of various issues. The rest of the ports are ready. I was just at the Lebombo where I was last week; they are very much ready. The members have started to act as the people are coming in, and at that place everything is going well. In terms of Groblerbridge, we are aware that this is the port that was affected by the floods. As we speak, the ports are ready to receive the traffic coming into the country. In any event, in Groblers, we don’t traffic in terms of people; it’s mostly trucks. The rest of the other ports, Maseru Bridge as well as Ficksburg Bridge that is close to Lesotho, everything is going according to plan.”
Traffic volumes at Beitbridge are expected to surge throughout midnight as travellers make their way back from the Easter holiday.
Some travellers who crossed into South Africa were satisfied with the level of service at the border post: “I come from Malawi, travelling to Johannesburg, and I am happy with the process at the border because it was very smooth and fast. There’s road maintenance in Zimbabwe, and it delayed our trip, and I am happy because it’s my first time travelling to Johannesburg from Malawi.”
According to the BMA, the Beitbridge Border Post will operate throughout the night to process people who crossed into South Africa.
