THE Border Management Authority (BMA) said about 1 136 250 million travellers acrossed 71 ports of entry during the Easter period.
This was during the 10-day period between Tuesday, 26 March and Thursday, 4 April 2024.
BMA Commissioner, Dr Michael Masiapato briefed the media in Hatfield, Tshwane, on Sunday, 14 April.
"We noted an addition of 222 391 more travellers registering a 24% increase. As a norm, OR Tambo International Airport, Lebombo port of entry to Mozambique and Beitbridge port of entry to Zimbabwe remain the top three ports that processed a majority of travellers in terms of the 528 042 travellers," Masiapato said.
"In fact, OR Tambo reported the most traveling at 217 855, followed by Lebombo at 157 069 and Beitbridge with 153 118 travellers."
He further said there was an increase in the number of holidaymakers boarding cruise ships at the Cape Town Harbour to various destinations.
About 1 019 were refused entry for being undesirable, and about 419 were found inadmissible. He said they had deployed an additional 400 junior border guards at some of the crucial land ports to assist in ensuring there was legitimate movement of people and goods across all ports of entry.
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He said the BMA had joined forces with other law enforcement authorities, including the SAPS, SANDF and Sars.
He said for first time, BMA teams were joined by officials from Social Development to safeguard movement of children across ports of entry.
He said when facilitating the movement of people during the return leg of their plan, which was executed from 1-4 April, they had to deal with individuals attempting to enter the country illegally.
"Within 10 days, we were able to intercept around 3 841 individuals who attempted to enter South Africa illegally. Out of this number, about 2 403 didn't have documents. About 1 019 were refused entry for being undesirable and 419 were found inadmissible to enter the country due to various reasons," he said.
Masiapato said these individuals were processed and declared undesirable for five years and deported.
"Most of the inadmissible individuals were found with invalid passports, fraudulent visas or failed to produce relevant documents."
He said since the first deployment of border guards, the BMA managed to intercept over 281 000 individuals who attempted to enter South Africa illegally.
Masiapato added that border guards, working with SAPS, arrested around 143 individuals for committing various crimes and transgressions within the port of entry.
He said an individual was arrested at the Lebombo port of entry to Mozambique in possession of 13 passports, attempting to bribe an immigration specialist with bank notes placed in-between the pages of individual passports. He said about 641kg of dagga, with a street value of R2 602 500 million, was seized and destroyed on the Botswana and Lesotho borders.
