Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber is suggesting strict border control measures to secure economic growth in South Africa.
Schreiber delivered the budget vote 2024 speech in Parliament on Monday.
He said South Africa would lose tourists and investment if it lost control over its borders and national security.
New guards unleashed at the borders
In an effort to have borders secured, he said 400 border guards that have been in training for eight months have finally been deployed by the Boder Management Authority (BMA) to their respective border posts.
He said the new guards are primarily responsible for preventing the scourge of illegal border entry, illicit cigarette smuggling, stolen high-value vehicles, and stock theft.
“To date, the BMA’s border guards have intercepted and deported over 296 000 individuals who attempted to enter the country illegally. In addition, over 303 vehicles were intercepted when criminals attempted to illegally take them out of South Africa,” said Schreiber.
“These illegal cross-border activities will further be combatted after the BMA received funding from the Criminal Asset Recovery Account (CARA), which is being utilised to procure critical security and ICT equipment, such as drones, body cameras, and speed boats through ARMSCOR,” he added.
Remote work visas on the cards
The department plans to finalise the release of remote working and start-up visas while regularly updating the critical skills list.
“In order for us to be effective in unlocking scarce skills and growing tourism to create jobs, Home Affairs must urgently clear the backlog in the processing of permits. The department has set up a dedicated team to reduce the backlog.
“I am pleased to report that we are starting to see progress. Our dedicated team has already reduced the backlog by processing 92,886 applications out of a total of 306,042. This is a reduction of 30%,” said Schreiber.
He said to avoid another concession on visas, the department needed to do more to clear the backlog.
“The apex priority of the government of national unity, as captured in our shared Statement of Intent, is to generate rapid, inclusive and sustainable economic growth to create jobs.”
