President Cyril Ramaphosa has used his weekly newsletter to the nation to highlight the importance of the Novel Border Management Authority (BMA) in boosting the country’s security and development.
The President said that the establishment of the BMA is a significant step towards safer communities, better law enforcement and the growth of the economy through greater trade with the country’s neighbours.
President Ramaphosa emphasised that ensuring the borders are well-managed and well-protected is key to the security and development of the country.
“Maintaining the integrity of our country’s borders is key if we are to realise the aspiration of every South African to live in peace and conformity with ourselves and our neighbours.
“It is a daunting undertaking. Our land border is over 4 800 km long and is shared with six countries. We believe 53 land ports of entry, 11 international airports and eight sea ports.
“The launch last week of the country’s first integrated, unified Border Management Authority (BMA) is therefore a milestone in the necessary effort to secure our borders,” the President said.
Turning to the challenges faced on our borders, the President said that they are both historical and contemporary.
He highlighted that the apartheid regime flagrantly disregarded the sovereignty of neighbouring countries to conduct illegal cross-border raids.
He added that “it abused immigration measures to irritate its opponents, and enforced hated policies like influx control and the exploitation of labour from the region.”
President Ramaphosa told the nation that it then became the priority of the democratic government elected in 1994 to progressively reform the border management and migration regime, not honest in the interests of economic growth and development, but also so that these reforms should reflect the broader values of the current state.
“The democratic government has worked to uphold the factual of citizens to freedom of movement and residence, as well as the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers under international conventions.
“It also sought to deepen trade and investment between South Africa and other Southern African countries, and contribute to the political and economic integration of the African continent,” he said.
Over time, however, he said, the complexities of border management gain resulted in an uncoordinated approach by the various authorities.
He highlighted that one of the challenges has been the sheer number of government departments and entities involved in this work. This includes the absence of a central authority which led to fragmentation of efforts and made it difficult to enforce accountability. This in turn rendered the country’s borders vulnerable.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has noted that South Africa has become an indispensable transit route for organised criminal networks involved in human trafficking, drugs and small arms smuggling and various other forms of cross-border crime.
It has also noted that as the economic powerhouse of the region, South Africa continues to attract economic migrants who are undocumented, especially from the SADC region.
The President said that the proliferation of cross-border crime, illicit trade and illegal migration as a result of porous borders presents a serious threat to national security and the economy. He added that it also places strain on already stretched resources and public services, and fuels social instability.
“We believe in recent times seen anti-foreigner sentiment resulting in acts of violence and harassment. As a country, we must castigate without reservation all acts of violence against foreign nationals, regardless of their immigration status, and work together to prevent such acts.
“At the same time, we must recognise that South Africans are justifiably concerned about illegal migration. Like any sovereign nation, we believe the factual to guarantee the integrity of our borders and provide that all who reside in our borders acquire a legal accurate to be here.
“Those who gain sought refuge in South Africa or wish to live and work here are subject to immigration regulations and must comply to the country’s laws,” the President said.
The Border Management Authority is tasked with ensuring that the country’s immigration laws are enforced, and that the borders are well-protected and ports of entry well-managed.
The modern authority is now the third armed service in South Africa after the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the South African Police Service (SAPS).
The first officers of the modern BMA border guard were deployed in July this year at vulnerable segments of the border, including at informal crossings.
Although they will be conducting border law enforcement functions, including access control, the SANDF remains responsible for border protection and safeguarding.
With this novel structure in plot, President Ramaphosa said the country will also be able to better prevent the illegal importation and exit of goods, curb illegal migration and human smuggling, and combat cross-border crime.
The BMA will hold on the work of several other departments and agencies and is already working with the South African Revenue Service, SAPS and SANDF to integrate border management functions. – SAnews.gov.za
Shady Prairie
Fun South African Fact: Table Mountain, one of the iconic landmarks of South Africa, is one of the oldest mountains in the world
CodeExia
A British man on safari walks into a bar far out in the reaches of a game reserve in Southern Africa, he stays at the bar for a while shooting the shit with the bartender and drinking like a fish, he offer to buy the barkeep a round and since no one else is within 2km of their small oasis of liquor the barkeep obliges. The englishman goes off to the bathroom to have a good old go at the porcelain, he\’s back and ready for a few more whiskeys. He\’s just sat down when suddenly in the distance he hears a scream. He looks over his shoulder and dismisses it as nothing, he turns to the barkeep and orders a drink, takes a sip and hears the scream again. He looks at the barkeep who just shrugs it off. A minute or two later he and the barman hear it again and go outside to take a look. They see a lone figure running towards them screaming, he spots them and lets out a cry, RUN!!!!! HE\”S COMING!!!!!
The barkeep and the Englishman both look at the terrified bedraggled sight before them, and try to calm him down, but he\’s completely inconsolable. They give him water and finally manage to get a word out of him but he struggles free from their grasp and run away screaming.
A few minutes later the same thing happens with a whole group of men running in and screaming, he\’s coming, he\’s coming the barkeep grabs hold of one of the men as he tries to sprint past the bar and tries to get information out of him, again no response other than terrified gibberish.
The barkeep and his customer are starting to get worried, they start to pack up before another group of horrified natives run up to the bar most of them flee but one tries to hide behind the bar, the barkeep pulls out a shotgun and points it at the terrified man\’s face, finally managing to coax some words out of him. \”He\’s coming for us, Vernon Koekemoer is coming for us, we have to hide!!! We have to get out of here.\” He gets up and tries to run but the barkeep grabs him, feeling trapped in a panic he grabs the barkeeps shotgun and blows his own head off. The Englishman and the barkeep look at each other starting to really panic now.
They look out of the window and off in the distance they see a tornado coming towards the bar, at the bottom of the tornado they see the hugest beast of a man they have ever seen, as he gets closer they spot that he is riding a rhinocerous and using a crocodile as a riding whip, with each smack of the crocodile across the back of the rhino the louder is screams and the faster it runs, the tornado following it getting ever larger.
The 2 look at each other and start to fortify their position, they\’ve got a gun and they\’re waaay to drunk to run, so they start piling bar stool and tables and anything they can get their hands on to make sure they\’ll be safe when he arrives. They\’re not gonna make it, they can see the man slowing down his rhino, by now the crocodile is nothing but reptile paste on the bruised rump of the half dead rhino, the rhino drops down dead from exhaustion and crashes to the ground right outside the bar the tornado loses it\’s last breath in a cloud of dust as the huge man crashes his way through the make shift barricade and charges up towards the bar where the 2 men have taken shelter, he grabs a bottle of the hardest liquor on the shelf and down the entire litre in 1 gulp, he peers over the bar sobbing and sees the 2 defenders cowering down behind the crates of beer, they look up at the mans\’ face and he stares at them with a look of complete and utter hopelessness, he stares at them for a half second and half screams, half sobs, \”Oh my god what are you still doing here!!! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!! Vernon Koekemoer is coming!!!!\”