on the official opening of the Sendelingsdrift border post with Namibia
16 October 2007
Programme director
Honourable Ministers
Senior Government officials
Colleagues
Dear friends:
The opening of two border posts between our two countries within a week
bears an important relevance to both the people of Namibia and South Africa.
Our two countries share a common history and social relations that necessitates
ongoing human interaction between our people.
As you are aware only last Friday, we opened a joint three-way facility
between South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. I am indeed very happy that through
the opening of these additional ports of entry, not only will our people be
able to interact, but that we will maximise economic activity between our two
nations for the mutual benefit of all our people.
The advent of the Trans-frontier Conservation Areas and cross-border tourism
facilities is an important part of integrating our regional economic activities
and should usher a new era in eco-tourism management within the region.
Having opened a number of these facilities with both Mozambique and
Zimbabwe, I am happy that we are rolling out similar ports with Namibia. From
the point of view of my department, I must mention that we have a real
commitment, in line with agreements at Southern African Community Development
(SADC), to ensure free movement of all the people of our region in each one of
our countries.
We see bilateral engagements between countries as an important step towards
achieving this ideal. It is for this reason that we see the opening of this
border post as an important event in quest for regional integration.
We are deploying immigration officers to this port of entry to assist with
the facilitation of human movement within the facility. In the long run, we
believe that efforts need to be made by all governments of the region to ensure
harmonisation of our immigration management instruments so as to allow for
integration and relaxation of control measures that inhibit free movement.
As we advance towards the hosting of the first FIFA Soccer World Cup
tournament on African soil, facilities such as Sendelingsdrift, will help to
ensure, in a practical sense, that eco-tourism benefits arising from the World
Cup are shared by all in the region.
We undertake to ensure that this border facility is properly capacitated and
managed efficiently, without any inconvenience to the people who wish to visit
the tourism facility.
We urge the public and communities on both side of the border to see this
facility as their own investment, and to protect and care for it as their own.
We will also appreciate feedback from the public about any improvements that
are necessary in our work to ensure that we serve them best at all times.
With these few words, I pledge our full support to the success of the work
that the two governments are doing through the opening of this facility and the
border post.
Thank you.
Issued by: Ministry of Home Affairs
16 October 2007
Source: Department of Home Affairs (http://www.dha.gov.za/)
