Ramaphosa to focus on cross-border security issues, as the noise on borders grows

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Over time, the challenges surrounding cross-border security have become more pressing, which has led to intense conflict between some political groups in South Africa.

Smuggling, poaching, and corruption were among the illegal components frequently referenced by the SAPS.

Addressing scores of ANC supporters in Mbombela Stadium at the January 8 statement, President Cyril Ramaphosa said, “We will also focus on cross-border security issues, such as human trafficking, drug smuggling, and other illicit trade,” he said.

It was reported that car smuggling across the Limpopo River in Limpopo has increased in recent years.

The Provincial Crime Intelligence Office discovered three National Vehicle Crime Syndicates operating in Limpopo along the South African-Zimbabwe border.

Given the ongoing discourse on South Africa’s borders brewing on various platforms, Commissioner of the Border Management Authority (BMA), Dr Mike Masiapato recently provided data pertaining to recent actions taken by the organization.

Independent Media recently reported on Masiapato, who revealed data from January 1–7, 2024, showing that 480 people who were trying to enter the country illegally were intercepted at Beit Bridge.

“As the Border Management Authority, the implementation of the returning leg of the execution of our festive plan is going according to the manner in which we have planned. We continue to administer to people coming back into South Africa. So in terms of the Beit Bridge border post, as we started on January 1, 2024, we started with around 10,000 individuals that we were processing into South Africa, and that number kept on escalating towards the end of the week. We were sitting with around 20, 000 individuals that we have facilitated.”

“So in the past 24 hours, we have been able to process around 25, 000 individuals into South Africa. All in all, the number of people that we facilitated from January 1st, 2024, to January 7 is sitting at 119, 000, but over and above the number of people we facilitated, we have been able to intercept around 480 individuals attempting to enter the country illegally.”

“These are the individuals who had been intercepted for entering the port of entry without the requisite documentation, but some of those we intercepted along the borderline, where the border guards are deployed together with the members of the South African National Defence Force. In addition to this, we can indicate that all our processes are going according to plan, as he said in a video on X.