BMA says 300 000 people crossing into Mozambique

The Border Management Authority (BMA) says 300 000 people crossing into Mozambique have been processed so far since the beginning of their festive operations at the Lebombo Border Post.

This includes Mozambican citizens going home and those traveling for holidays.

BMA Commissioner, Michael Masiapato, has been visiting the border post. Masiapato says they have established three stations where they are processing travelers to reduce the waiting period at the border.

“We have actually segregated the various travelers for the purposes of effective administration. We do have an area where we are processing pedestrians, and that is where we have a lot of people that are dropped by taxis in the port, and on that basis, they go to the pedestrian side. And that is where we actually process them on the one end. The other area of operation is within port. There, we are processing people that are coming with small vehicles, and on that basis, we are able to process them there. The third area of operation colleagues is kilometer-seven. We have a processing area where we divert small vehicles in which we actually get them processed also in this particular space.”

Commissioner Masiapato says over 50 people were arrested by members of the SANDF for attempting to cross the border illegally in the mountains.

“These are individuals who have tried to avoid coming into the port because they overstayed in South Africa. Some of them actually had passports that expired whilst in South Africa. So, they were trying to avoid coming to the port because they didn’t want to be v-listed and be banned from re-entering the country for five years. So, on that basis, we had to make sure that we bring them to port, we had to fingerprint them and make sure that they are v-listed, and we had to get them out into the Mozambican side.”

Video: Festive Safety | Lebombo Port of Entry – Delays & Roadblocks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIzHsfg9nUc