Home Affairs Deputy Minister, Fatima Chohan, announced on Wednesday (November 28), that operational hours would be extended at South Africa’s busiest ports of entry to accommodate movements during the festive season.
Chohan made the announcement during a media briefing on the department’s readiness to facilitate movements of travellers at all ports of entry as South Africa braces itself for yet another busy festive season.
“As in previous years, stakeholders at ports of entry and partners from neighbouring countries have agreed to a comprehensive operational plan in order to support a facilitation of movement in this period, December 5 to January 9, 2019.
“For enhanced collaboration and integrated port operations, government departments and agencies involved in border management will take a joint approach for the festive operations,” she added.
Operational hours will be extended for the busy ports of entry, covering pre-festive season movements, the festive season period and the re-opening of schools. According to Chohan, the department will also deploy 425 additional staff at the busiest ports.
Therefore, Mpumalanga’s Lebombo and Oshoek border posts, the Free State’s Van Rooyenshek and Caledonspoort posts will be open for 24 hours during specific periods in December.
Other ports will see operational times extended between one and two hours.
In preparation for the festive season, the Information Technology team at Home Affairs is currently conducting a clean sweep operation to ensure that all IT equipment is ready at all ports of entry to ensure optimal functioning.
In addition, Chohan said the team was also setting up overflow areas for processing travellers in Maseru Bridge, Lebombo and Beit Bridge to cater for the expected large volumes.
In closing, Chohan said: “We implore all travellers leaving and entering South Africa to ensure that all their travel documents are in order to avoid unnecessary delays in ports. These include passports, visas, health certificates, permits for specified goods, plants and animals and vehicle insurance and bank-authorised cross-border documents for vehicles.”
