The SA Border Management Authority (BMA) is stepping up on efforts to crack down on attempts by scores of undocumented travellers seeking to cross into the country illegally from neighbouring Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
The BMA has noted that scores of people from Mozambique are crossing the border en masse after the festive season.
Last month, the authority revealed that it was arresting at least 300 people trying to cross the borders illegally daily.
The Lebombo border post was closed temporarily amid violent protests sparked by a dispute over the general elections in Mozambique.
The nationwide protests, which have claimed a reported more than 100 lives, resulted in the processing of trucks being interrupted as tension spilled over the troubled border post.
The Road Freight Association said last month the border blockade cost the industry at least R10-million daily.
On Friday, Lebombo acting port commander Sam Ngomane told Sunday World: “We are fully operational and it is now business as usual. Since political unrest in Mozambique has quelled, there has been no incident reported.
“We process thousands of people travelling to South Africa, with few going into Mozambique. There are also lots of trucks processed daily. ”
BMA commissioner Michael Masiapato said the disruptions on the Mozambican side had affected operations at the Lebombo port of entry, affecting the movement of trucks in particular. He said they had launched a crime-fighting campaign, Hi Tivise.
“Recent operations at the Beitbridge and Lebombo ports of entry have resulted in significant breakthroughs in disrupting illegal activities, including human and child smuggling.”
The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure said it had intensified its operations along the South Africa-Mozambique border.
Ahead of the festive season, vigilant BMA border guards intercepted a minibus taxi attempting to smuggle 14 undocumented children from Mozambique, aged between four and 16 years, into South Africa through Lebombo.
Masiapato said in one of their successful operations, they apprehended a South African taxi driver at Beitbridge attempting to smuggle 25 undocumented foreign nationals into the country from Zimbabwe.
Among them were 20 children between the ages of five and 14, being unlawfully transported under dangerous and inhumane conditions.
