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[FILE] Several unaccompanied minors and adults were intercepted in the nearby bushes while awaiting a facilitator to transport them to a bus.
The Border Management Authority says six children intercepted while crossing illegally into South Africa at the Beitbridge border in Limpopo have been reunited with their parents and deported to Zimbabwe.
The children, aged between 7 and 12, were intercepted with the assistance of the South African National Defence Force.
Authorities say their parents were also undocumented and attempting to enter the country illegally.
BMA Assistant Commissioner Dr Nkhuliseni Luvhengo says the Department of Social Development was involved in the process.
“We have engaged with the Department of Social Development. Based on the discussion that they had at the interviews that they had with the children, they found that three children obviously had one parent, and then the other children also had parents that were travelling with them, because there was a confirmation that they had parents,” he said.
“We didn’t place them under a place of safety. We had to, unfortunately, deport them together with their parents, because they didn’t have all the travel documentation,” said Luvhengo.
Border authority monitoring the Beitbridge port of entry
He adds that 43 undocumented migrants were also deported, while 14 others were declared undesirable after overstaying.
“We managed to deport forty-three of them because they didn’t have documentation. And in terms of those that are undesirable, we obviously found fourteen of them. These are the people who are travellers who will be coming here, given 90 days to be here in South Africa, or 30 days, depending on the country, and then they happen to overstay. So we declared them undesirable. so that they are not supposed to be back for five years,” Luvhengo says.
The BMA says operations at ports of entry are continuing to address illegal border crossings.
WATCH | BMA Commissioner Dr Michael Masiapato says the likelihood is that the 32 undocumented Zimbabwean nationals arrested in the Free State last week were picked up somewhere inside the country, and the driver must disclose where they were taken from. pic.twitter.com/V9coTTSDaN
— SABC News (@SABCNews) April 6, 2026
Today, 07 April 2026, @TheBMA_SA Commissioner Masiapato continued with the return-leg of the Easter operations at Beitbridge Port of Entry. Several unaccompanied minors and adults were intercepted in the nearby bushes while awaiting a facilitator to transport them to a bus. The… pic.twitter.com/OuVymYm5zH
— The Border Management Authority SA (@TheBMA_SA) April 7, 2026
