ActionSA president Herman Mashaba visited the Beitbridge border post on Monday, describing it as being in a dysfunctional state and said the Border Management Authority (BMA) was hastily launched without receiving adequate funding or the transfer of relevant personnel.
Last month President Cyril Ramaphosa and Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa toured Zimbabwe’s new customs office at the Beitbridge border, with the former saying improved border infrastructure would help the economies of both South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The border post receives up to 20 000 people a day.
“We want to ensure that our two border posts function well to enhance ease of movement of people, ease of movement of goods so that trade between the two countries can improve,” Ramaphosa said.
“This morning when I visited the Beitbridge Border Post, I saw first-hand the dysfunctional state of the facility,” said Mashaba.
“Despite it having recently been upgraded it is still plagued by inefficiencies and corruption allegations.
“Only a few metres from the border post, there are gaping holes in the border fencing which easily allows people to cross the border illegally, and for goods and drugs to be smuggled into our communities,” Mashaba said.
There was no political will to address South Africa’s porous borders, Mashaba said, and “instead they are allowed their continued decay as the country slips into lawlessness”.
“It is the poorest South Africans who are the biggest casualties of our country’s porous borders as it is in their communities where counterfeit goods which cause disease and drugs are sold first when they enter the country.
“ActionSA has repeatedly asserted that the problem with South Africa’s immigration regime does not lie with the country’s laws but with the application of those laws by state agencies and the failure to secure our borders,” Mashaba said.
Launching new entities such as the BMA will do little to address the issue unless the rule of law is implemented, he said.
The Mercury