As Easter holidaymakers are packing their bags and getting ready to embark on their planned travels, Border Management Authority (BMA) commissioner Michael Masiapato on Sunday assured the nation that the men and women who control South Africa’s 71 ports of entry stand ready to ensure the efficient, secure and seamless movement of people and goods.
Masiapato emphasised that the work of the BMA covered areas of immigration, port health, environmental and agricultural biosecurity, including general law enforcement at the ports of entry and border law enforcement areas.
High traffic volumes
The commissioner unveiled BMA’s security plan covering a period of 10 days between March 31 and April 9, culminating into a gradual demobilisation programme.
“During this period, we expect traffic volumes potentially reaching double and exceeding around 25 000 travellers per day. We, therefore, urge travellers to plan their journeys well in advance,” Masiapato said.
Zero tolerance for illegality
He warned travellers that illegality and non-compliance would be dealt with harshly. This zero tolerance would not spare officials who would hope to score a quick buck through corrupt activities.
“We are able to monitor officials through bodycams, though not enough.
Masiapato said KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli had donated a drone that would be used for surveillance.
He said the planning phase of Easter operations commenced at the tail-end of the festive period, which was between December 2025 and January 2026.
Security cluster support
Masiapato said the Easter security plan had drawn support from various structures across the national security cluster, including the Inter-ministerial Consultative Committee on Border Management, the Border Technical Committee of Directors-General and Heads of Entities and other critical structures in the broader border management ecosystem.
“The Easter plan reflects the BMA’s commitment for the robust implementation of border law enforcement functions while enabling legitimate travel, tourism and trade during one of the busiest periods on the country’s national calendar,” he said.
Masiapato said given the existing BMA resource constraints, the planning phase was focused on integrated stakeholder engagements for the purposes of identifying partnerships that would assist in augmenting resources.
Western Cape, Gauteng chip in
“As part of these efforts, the BMA has continued to maintain critical partnerships with the Western Cape government, which has allocated approximately 50 officials to support the BMA as immigration officers at Cape Town International Airport. Similarly, the Gauteng provincial government has maintained its support through the deployment of 80 officers assisting as immigration officers at OR Tambo International Airport,” Masiapato said.
He also welcomed the continued partnership with the Department of Tourism, which he said deployed more than 160 tourism safety officers to enhance the seamless flow of traveller movements within the port premises.
Masiapato said in tackling cross-border social protection challenges, particularly the safeguarding of minors and vulnerable travellers, including those without requisite travel documentation and victims of trafficking, the BMA had partnered with the Department of Social Development to deploy social workers to the various ports of entry through their provincial structures.
Crackdown on fraud
The commissioner emphasised the need for travellers to ensure that their travel documents are processed by genuine BMA officers, cautioning that there are bound to be unscrupulous people who pose as BMA officers. He said immigration authorities had invested in technologies to detect illegally stamped documents. He they had introduced highly secured new stamps with unique numbers allocated to specific immigration officers.
“This means should any passport be stamped illegally, we are able to link that particular stamp to the official,” he said.
The commissioner said for corridor management, the national, provincial and local traffic authorities would be intensifying their deployments to ensure strict and full compliance with the traffic protocols.
On March 23, Minister of Home Affairs Dr Leon Schreiber and Masiapato conducted a ministerial oversight visit at the Beitbridge port of entry and the borderline. The visit formed part of the BMA’s preparations for the upcoming Easter period, one of the busiest travel seasons across South Africa’s ports of entry.
The minister was able to assess operational readiness, evaluate systems and personnel deployment, and was assured that measures are in place to facilitate the efficient movement of travellers while maintaining border security.
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