The amount of major interceptions the Border Management Authority (BMA) has made thus far during the early days of this festive season suggests that the agency should be equipped with more resources.
The amount of major interceptions the Border Management Authority (BMA) has made thus far during the early days of this festive season suggests that the agency should be equipped with more resources.
While it could be perceived as being in its infancy, the authority has proved its establishment may be what South Africa needed in its fight against illegal entry and exit of people and goods through the country’s borders, which are often described as porous.
BMA commissioner Dr Michael Masiapato and his team deserve all the applause for the recent breakthroughs resulting in foiling attempts to smuggle 47 undocumented people in just four days, the majority of them children. These include the arrest of a South African taxi driver at the Beitbridge border post while transporting 20 children along with five other people into the country from Zimbabwe.
The children were unlawfully ferried in dangerous and inhumane conditions.
In another breakthrough, a driver coming from Mozambique who attempted to smuggle 14 undocumented children aged between 4 and 16 into the country, was arrested at the Lebombo port of entry. Border guards also intercepted eight Bangladeshi nationals attempting to enter without valid travel documents after they were allegedly dropped off by a minibus taxi near the Beitbridge border post.
A country that cannot protect its borders opens itself up to a range of safety and social issues. No one knows this better than the communities affected by illegal mining. We are not advocating for the Trump-style approach on immigration issues, far from it. But no state can claim its sovereignty when it does not know who is in the country and what business they are conducting.
Ask yourself whether the tense situation unfolding in Stilfontein, North West, where hundreds of illegal miners, mostly from Mozambique and other neighbouring countries, are said to have been underground for months, would have occurred had those people been properly documented.
By providing the BMA with more resources to execute their duties, South Africa sends a message that the days of entering the country illegally are over.
Cape Times