Home Affairs Minister Dr Siyabonga Cwele has concluded a successful monitoring visit to the Beit Bridge Border Post to observe the levels of service delivery at this port of entry.

 

Beit Bridge is the country’s busiest land port and most of the departmental staff which has been deployed to border posts to manage the expected increases in traveller movements are at Beit Bridge.

 

Minister Cwele was accompanied by Musina Mayor Cllr Mihloti Muhlophe, Musina Speaker Cllr Gilbert Netshisaulu, Musina Chief Whip Cllr Fistos Mafela and other senior leaders.

 

The Minister and his delegations were briefed on the port operations by staff members of some of the government institutions which operate at Beit Bridge. These include Home Affairs, SA Revenue Service, SA Police Service, Department of Agriculture and Forestry, Department of Health, Department of Transport, Cross Border Road Transport Agency and the Road Traffic Management Corporation.

 

Over 200 000 traveller movements have been facilitated at the Beit Bridge Border Post from 01 to 17 December 2018. This number is expected to increase with approaching Christmas and New Year period. 

 

“I am happy with the operations I saw today at Beit Bridge and I’m confident that the measures we have put in place will assist to ease travel for visitors using this port. We don’t want people to spend a lot of time here at the border whether they are departing or arriving,” said Minister Cwele.

 

He said he was pleased with the cooperation amongst the different State agencies operating at the port.

 

“We’ll continue to have increased capacity at this and all our other border posts until 09 January 2019. We appeal to travellers to ensure that they have all the relevant supporting documents which should be legible and recently certified,” said Cwele.

 

Cllr Muhlophe said cooperation between national departments and border towns such as Musina was important to ensure that people cross the borders with the correct documents and to manage crime. She said this cooperation enables her Municipality to escalate possible challenges to the relevant departments and to jointly work on solving them.

 

She said the resources of border towns could be strained when foreign visitors reside in those towns illegally.

 

Minister Cwele said he shall visit other ports of entry during this peak period to monitor service delivery and interact with visitors.

 

“One of the biggest task of Home Affairs is to facilitate ease of travel at our ports of entry. This has a big impact on tourism, trade and investment. This could ultimately improve economic growth,” said Cwele.