The Border Management Authority (BMA) has implemented an emergency manual processing system at Lebombo Border to manage the overwhelming influx of travellers during the festive season, with more than 30 000 people processed on Christmas Eve alone.
The decision was taken following a consultation between South African border officials and Mozambican Interior Minister Paulo Chachine, who visited the port to assess the congestion crisis.
BMA Commissioner Michael Masiapato announced that border guards would be redeployed from corridor duties to assist with manual processing alongside the existing Enhanced Movement Control System (EMCS).
“We have just decided that we are going to do an additional manual processing of all of the travellers here,” Masiapato said.
He explained that the measure involves deploying additional border guards to process Mozambican nationals returning home and South Africans travelling to Mozambique for holidays, initially without using the electronic system.
How the manual system works
Under the new approach, manual processing will apply only to South African and Mozambican nationals.
All other nationalities will continue to be processed through the standard electronic system.
Masiapato emphasised that this ensures security protocols remain intact. “What we will be doing is that we will be stamping their passports and therefore taking a screenshot of their biographic page into a cellphone, and then after that, we are then going to load them into the system for statistical purposes,” he said.
Foreign nationals from countries including Malawi and European nations will be processed through the EMCS, with their names run against Interpol databases and criminal watchlists.
The commissioner confirmed that further due diligence would be conducted on manually processed travellers during the return period between 1 January and 15 January 2025.
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Security concerns addressed
When questioned about potential security risks, Masiapato defended the manual processing approach as a standard contingency measure.
He noted that the BMA conducts manual processing when the electronic system is down, and that the authority will still conduct retrospective security checks.
“Doing manual processing is not necessarily a unique thing or something that is very much unusual. We do have incidents where you will find that the system is completely down for whatever reason. And in those particular instances, we do implement a manual process,” Masiapato said.
He added that once manually processed travellers’ information is loaded into the system and flagged, authorities would work with Mozambican police to apprehend individuals.
The BMA will also prioritise processing vulnerable groups, including women and children, through the manual system while continuing to use the electronic system simultaneously.
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Staffing challenges persist
Masiapato acknowledged that staffing shortages remain a fundamental challenge at Lebombo Border.
“As the border management authority, we operate at 25% capacity. So when it comes to immigration officers, indeed, we do not have enough,” Masiapato said.
The authority had already redeployed border guards from corridor duties to operate the 30 EMCS processing stations.
To implement the manual processing system, additional border guards will be redeployed from corridor duties to offices, and provincial police leadership will be asked to deploy more officers to secure the border corridor.
Cargo processing continues
Despite passenger congestion, border authorities decided not to halt cargo movement through the bypass.
Approximately 800 trucks were processed on Christmas Eve, with some vehicles having waited at the Kilometre 7 bypass for two days.
Masiapato explained that stopping truck movement entirely would severely impact trade and prevent drivers from delivering cargo in time to return home for Christmas.
“If we stop them completely, that will also have a bigger impact and a bad impact in terms of trade,” he said, adding that the decision was made to continue processing trucks on the bypass while focusing manual processing efforts on passenger traffic.
Illegal border crossings remain a concern
When questioned about illegal border crossings observed at mountain crossings near Lebombo, the Chachine acknowledged that unauthorised movement concerns both governments.
“It doesn’t please anyone to have people crossing the border illegally or having illegal immigrants. What we are doing is trying to avoid that. People have to pass through the conventional borders, [they] have to use and follow the laws. And those who are crossing illegally, they are not following the law, and that worries us,” the minister said.
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