Home Affairs ready for festive season

Source: The Times, 30/11/2018

Deputy minister Fatima Chohan told journalists that the department
was ready to handle increased traffic, in particular at the air
and land ports. Chohan said the festive season â€` officially
starting on December 5 until January 9 2019 â€` heightened movement
across the ports of entry and the demand for home affairs
services, particularly passport applications.
Chohan addressed journalists in place of newly appointed home
affairs minister Siyabonga Cwele, who was participating in a
delayed national assembly debate on the Electoral Laws Amendment
Bill.
The festive period, along with Easter and school holidays, is the
peak season at national borders.
Chohan said in the 2017-18 festive season, a total of 8,468,262
movements were captured, comprising arrivals and departures of SA
citizens and foreigners. Of these, 2,304,449 were citizens`
movements and 6,163,813 were foreigners` movements.
The highest arrivals from the SA Development Community (SADC)
region were from Lesotho at 758,519, followed by Zimbabwe
(712,688), Mozambique (398,684), Swaziland (306,682) and Botswana
(256,793). In the same period, OR Tambo International Airport was
the leading port for all movements, with 1,569,100 recorded there.
It was followed by Beitbridge at 1,215,845 and Lebombo at 936,415.
Chohan said that in preparation for the upcoming festive period,
the information technology (IT) team at home affairs was
conducting a clean-sweep operation to ensure that all IT equipment
was in a good condition at all the ports to ensure optimal
functioning.
“The team is also setting up overflow areas for processing of
travellers in Maseru Bridge, Lebombo and Beitbridge, in order to
cater for the volumes expected,” she said.
She said it was imperative that ports of entry were adequately
prepared to facilitate traveller movement and to curb illegal
movement and transgressions. Security dynamics and risks during
peak periods include fraudulent documents, undocumented travellers
and poor access control due to congested roads.
Chohan implored travellers leaving and entering SA to ensure that
all their travel documents were in order to avoid unnecessary
delays at ports. These include passports, visas, health
certificates, permits for specified goods, plants and animals,
vehicle insurance and bank-authorised cross-border documents for
vehicles.