Commissioner Michael Masiapato: BMA quarter 2 report for 2025/2026 unveiling of festive season operational plan for 2025/2026

Presentation on BMA quarter 2 report for 2025/2026 unveiling of the festive season operational plan for 2025/2026

Deputy Commissioner for Corporate Services Madam Jane Thupana, 
Deputy Commissioner for Operations, 
Major General (rtd) David Chilembe, 
Assistant Commissioners & Deputy Assistant Commissioners present, 
The entire border management community,
Members of the media and South Africa at large,

Good morning,
The Border Management Authority is convening this media briefing today to deal with two matters:

• Firstly, to present a report on the work of the Authority for the second Quarter of 2025/2026 financial year which covers the period the 01st of July 2025 to the 30th of September 2025, and
• Secondly, to unveil the Authority’s festive season plan for 2025/2026 which covers the period the 10th of December 2025 to the 15th of January 2026.

This media briefing is held at a critical time when the nation is currently observing the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children. Therefore, as the BMA, we reaffirm our commitment to ensure the protection and seamless facilitation of the movement of women and all the vulnerable groups as and when they present themselves across any of our 71 ports of entry. Further, this briefing is taking place just two weeks after the BMA successfully facilitated the seamless movement of more than 40 Heads of State, other government leaders, various delegates, technical teams and journalists who came to attend the G20 Leader’s Summit. This was the second-largest international event which the BMA had to facilitate since the BRICS summit which was held in August of 2023. These heightened movements remained

instrumental in testing and strengthening our systems for high-impact and sophisticated high-security movements of dignitaries.

1.    BMA’s second Quarter performance report for 2005/2026
In this second quarter of 2025/2026 financial year, the BMA achieved 11 of its 12 quarterly targets amounting to 92% achievement rate of targets as contained in its Annual Performance Plan despite its persisting challenges that has been widely articulated. This quarter was characterized by heightened operational activities which were mainly driven by the number of preparatory meetings for the G20 Leaders’ Summit. Just in the quarter of three months, the BMA facilitate a number of dignitaries who came to attend more than forty (40) various G20 track meetings in various parts of the country. Further, Grobler’s Bridge port of entry with Botswana facilitated a significant number of members of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) who came to attend their September pilgrimage at the City of Moria in Limpopo Province. With all these activities, the BMA immigration officers processed a total of 9 283 658 travelers as they were entering and leaving South Africa in this second quarter of the financial year. This represents an increase of about 23% of processed travelers compared to the same period in 2024 where only 7 576 650 movements were recorded. With the help of surveillance technology, mainly the drones, about 8,135 apprehensions were affected across the various ports of entry and the respective vulnerable segments, of which 4 092 were undocumented, 2 061 were inadmissible and 1 982 were undesirables. As always the case, the majority of the intercepted foreign nationals were Basotho, followed by Mozambicans, Zimbabweans and Swati nationals, reflecting a consistent long-standing migration pattern within the sub-region.

Incrementally, the Border Guards has been able to stop about 505 065 individuals from entering the country illegally since the deployment of the first contingent in July 2022. Further, about 15 high powered suspected stolen vehicles were intercepted as criminal syndicates attempted to smuggle them out of the country. The vehicles were handed over to members of the SAPS for further processing. In terms of the intercepted vehicles, the incremental figure stands at about 349 vehicles since the deployment of the first contingent in July of 2022. Further, in this quarter about 1700 kg of counterfeit clothing and footwear estimated at R1 280 645. 00 were intercepted at various ports of entry bringing the incrementally value to about R220 millions. In this period, the officers intercepted half a kilogram of crystal meth, 240 grams of heroin, and illicit

cigarettes to the value of R827 500. As for document fraud, about 40 fraudulent travel documents were confiscated mainly at ORTIA, CTIA and Vioolsdrift ports of entry.

During this quarter, about 172 858 travellers were screened for port health purposes and about 73 were refused entry for failing to produce the valid yellow fever vaccination certificate. The port health team also processed about 997 mortal remains, of which, 964 were being exported while 33 were imports. Unfortunately, about 25 mortal remains were returned due to failure to produce required documentation. Further, about 43 729 health related consignments were presented and processed into the country by our port health teams. However, about 5 000 units of illicit birth control pills and 117 medical test kits were intercepted and destroyed, this includes some skin-lightening creams. In this regard, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has warned that many of these products contain harmful and illegal ingredients, including high concentrations of mercury, hydroquinone, and tropical steroids, which pose a serious health risks such as skin damage, kidney complications, and long-term toxicity. In addition, our port health team tested about 969 travellers for Malaria and about 57 were confirmed positive and got transferred to the nearest medical facility. In the Agricultural space, about 39 316 consignments were presented and processed into the country. At the same time, about 1 241 CITES consignments were presented and processed for entering the country in this second quarter.

During this quarter, the BMA in partnership with Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) secured operational space for the permanent deployment of the Coastal Guards at the ports of Mossel Bay, Qgeberha, Richards Bay, and East London. This is a critical development towards establishing BMA’s full-time presence in these critical seaports.

2.    Unveiling the 2025/2026 Festive Season Operational Plan
This plan has been endorsed by key structures critical to the border management ecosystem and those are, the Border Technical Committee comprising of 10 Directors General and heads of entities, the Inter-ministerial Consultative Committee on Border Management consisting of 10 Ministers under the Chair-ship of Dr Leon Schreiber who is the Minister at the Department of Home Affairs, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee of Home Affairs under the Chair-ship of Honourable Mosa Chabane and the Parliamentary Select Committee on Security and Justice under the chair-ship of

Honourable Jane Makananisa. Operationally, the plan is supported by the National Joint Operations and Intelligence Structures (NATJOINTS) under the Co-Chair-ship of Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili and all respective PROVJOINTS across the 9 provinces. It covers the work of the BMA across the 71 ports of entry comprising of 52 land ports, 10 international airports, and 9 seaports. It includes all the critical functional responsibilities of the BMA which are immigration facilitation and management, agricultural and environmental biosecurity, port health, and general border law enforcement which includes access control at the ports of entry. These responsibilities further extend into the designated border law enforcement area, which covers a 10-kilometre radius inward from internationally recognised borderline and 12 nautical miles seaward in terms of the coastline.

In developing the plan, the BMA considered all historical patterns and key lessons learned from the previous festive season operations. It remains embedded under the principles of inter-governmental relations, cooperative governance and collaboration with the various counterparts across the entire government ecosystem which is inclusive of law enforcement and traffic agencies, municipalities, state security structures and border communities. Historically, the December and January festive periods remain characterized by a significant increase in traveller volume which always places significant pressure on our ports of entry. In fact, South Africa continues to confront a range of complex border-related challenges, including illegal migration, increasingly sophisticated cross-border criminal activities, as well as the smuggling of illicit goods. These challenges place a significant strain on our already limited resources, hinder economic growth, and undermine efforts toward deeper regional economic integration. It is against this backdrop that the BMA continues to engage our neighboring states to ensure the development of robust, integrated, and well-resourced border management system that is free from criminal interference. However, the festive period always positions us to anticipate risks, improve processing times, refine command and control, and elevate our responsiveness to the high-volume and complex border management environment. At this time, our strategy places deliberate emphasis on enhanced capacity, improved queue management, strengthened traffic control, and inter-structural collaboration.

Looking at the past two festive seasons, empirical data does confirm that our cross-border movement remains dominated by foreign travelers. For instance, in 2023/24 festive period, out of about 5 million processed travelers, 78% were foreign nationals while 22% were South Africans. As for the 2024/25 festive period, of the 4.5 million processed travelers, 70% were foreign nationals with 30% South Africans. As for the numbers of intercepted travelers attempting to enter the country illegally, historical data still confirm that Basotho nationals led, followed by Zimbabweans and Mozambicans. Further, historical data confirms that over 75% of the travellers are facilitated at key ten ports of entry and those are OR Tambo International airport in Johannesburg, Beit Bridge land port to Zimbabwe, Lebombo land port to Mozambique, Ficksburg and Maseru Bridge land ports to Lesotho, Cape Town International airport in the Western Cape, Oshoek land port to e-Swatini, as well as Kopfontein, Caledonspoort and Groblers’ Bridge land ports to Botswana. Therefore, during the development of this plan, these historical patterns, operational experiences, and strategic lessons formed the backbone of our planning. In fact, this historical data played a critical role in shaping the contents of our 2025/2026 festive season planning. The plan consists of four phases and those are the planning, execution, demobilisation and sustenance phases.

2.1    Planning phase,
The planning phase started on the 15th of September 2025 and will end on the 9th of December 2025. The planning phase is characterised by extensive consultative engagements with multiple stakeholders in the country operating in both public and private sectors. As a result, we have managed to secure few critical partnerships with various stakeholders as guided by section 5(c) of the Border Management Authority Act. For instance, the Western Cape Provincial government, together with the City of Cape Town has availed about 50 personnel for deployment at Cape Town International Airport to assist us on immigration management, the Gauteng Provincial Government has also availed about 80 personnel for deployment at OR Tambo International Airport for assisting us on immigration management, the Department of Tourism will be allocating about 160 Tourism monitors to assist in queue management within the various ports of entry, the Department of Social Development would be deploying Social Workers through their provincial structures to assist in handling the vulnerable particularly the unaccompanied minors, and or victims of trafficking within the ports.

Further, the BMA achieved partnership with the South African Freight Forwarders Association, the Association of Meat Importers and Exporters, South African Association of Ship Operators and Agents to fund some of our operations through a cost recovery model. Further, DCD Protected Mobility, Aselsan South Africa, and

Unipro Protective Wear will be assisting us in the deployment of integrated suite of advanced surveillance, mobility and protective technologies. As such, drones and body cams will be fully operational to improve our detection capability and also address possible corruption from our team members. At the same time, Sanlam/ASSUPOL will be assisting with the enhancement of health and the wellbeing of BMA officials during this period. We also partnered with TRAC and SANRAL to improve traffic flow management and reduce congestion risks at Lebombo port of entry. As always, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) will provide support in the provision of additional infrastructure such as temporary lighting, ablution facilities, special temporary barricades and Jojo tankers for the provision of additional water within the ports and the corridors. Further, additional ICT technicians would be deployed at prioritised ports in order to provide direct support to our movement control system. In this regard, additional remote support on ICT matters will be provided by SARS technicians, together with the team from the Department of Home Affairs.

Further, during of this planning phase we also conducted extensive inter-jurisdictional discussions with our six immediate neighbouring countries of Lesotho, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, eSwatini and Botswana in order to streamline border processes and coordinate our work modalities during this period. As a result, we have agreed to adjust operating hours at some of the key ports which do not operate on a 24-hour basis. To this end, the Chairperson of the IMCC on border management, Dr Leon Schreiber has approved our request to extend the operating hours at the following ports of entry:

2.2    Execution phase,
The execution phase start on the10th of December 2025 and end on the 15th of January 2026. This phase is divided into two legs, the exit (departure) leg starting from the 10th to the 31st of December 2025 and the entry (return) leg starting from the 1st to the 15th of January 2026. During this phase, we will be intensifying our measures to detect and seize narcotics, illicit goods, and even stolen vehicles. We therefore want to warn all travellers to desist from committing any act of criminality around the ports or even in the border law enforcement areas as they will be detected and arrested. During the exit leg, the corridors leading to our land ports of entry will be fully monitored to ensure the effective management of traffic flow under the leadership of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), the Cross Border Road Transport Agency (CBRTA), and the respective traffic authorities in the respective provinces.

To ensure the effective processing of all travellers within the port, we would like to re-emphasise the key requirement to be observed by respective travellers in terms of the various specialisations:

2.2.1    Port Health management,

Our port health teams would like to remind all inbound travellers that they will be screened on their arrival at the ports of entry. This is meant to avoid any witting or unwitting importation of any communicable or infectious diseases into the country especially during the return leg. Further, we would like to urge all travellers presenting signs of illness to present themselves to the BMA Port Health team members on arrival. However, should they experience being unwell after their travel they are encouraged to visit their nearest health facilities or consult their private Doctors for medical examination. As for travellers arriving from Yellow Fever endemic areas, they will be required to present a valid yellow fever vaccination certificate. Otherwise, failure to produce such certificate will result in travellers being refused entry into the country by the BMA Port Health team members. In terms of the exportation and importation of human remain through ports of entry, people are required to present a cross-border permit issued by the National Department of Health (NDoH). Therefore, no human remains will be imported or exported without such permit. Upon arrival at the port, the permit must be presented to the Port Health team members for the full inspection of the human remains and further processing.

2.2.2    Immigration management,
Our immigration teams would like to remind all travelers entering or departing South Africa that they should be in possession a valid machine-readable passport containing at least two completely unused pages, excluding the last page, which must always remain blank. On Visa requirements, the immigration team remains vigilant in enforcing compliance with the terms and conditions of various visas and permits at ports of entry as issued by the principal organ of state. At the port of entry, it is mandatory for the in-ward foreign travelers to provide a residential address of their intended place of stay within South Africa. All travelers who are granted a particular visa are only permitted to engage in activities permitted by such visa. For instance, a student visa allows one to participate in educational related matters, not employment issues. Regarding the movement of children, parents traveling with a child must produce the unabridged birth certificate of the child showing both parents’ details. If only one parent is traveling, an affidavit from the other parent authorizing the travel, or a court order granting full parental rights, or a death certificate of the other parent would be required. Otherwise, failure to produce the required documents would result in the child not permitted to exit the country.

2.2.3    Agricultural biosecurity management,

Our agricultural biosecurity teams would like to urge in-ward travelers to avoid bringing products such as meat, fruits or any other regulated goods. These kinds of regulated goods can only be imported into the country through proper channels with the relevant permits issued by the relevant organ of state. Travelers should note that the BMA Agricultural bio-security inspectors do conduct luggage inspections at the ports of entry by means of visual and or sniffer dogs to ensure compliance with the movement of Agricultural products. Should such products be detected, they will be confiscated and destroyed. Therefore, for the smooth facilitation of plants and their products at the designed ports of entry, importers and exporters are required to present both an import permit issued by the Department of Agriculture and a phytosanitary certificate issued by the country of origin with full compliance to the South African import conditions. Similarly, as for animals and their products, importers are expected to present an import permit as issued by the Agriculture Department as well as the veterinary health certificate issued by the country of origin with full compliance to the South African import conditions.

2.2.4    Environmental biodiversity & biosecurity management,
Our environmental biodiversity & biosecurity teams would like to remind travellers that they will be intensifying the inspection and monitoring of all consignments that contain listed endangered species or regulated specimens at our ports of entry as part of their responsibility to safeguard the country’s ecosystem from invasive and alien species. Therefore, people are reminded to comply with environmental biodiversity and biosecurity prescripts regarding the exportation, re-exportation, and or importation of endangered animals and or plants. In this regard, the relevant permits would be required as issued by the relevant authorities. For instance, when importing Alien Invasive Species (AIS) into South Africa, the importer should obtain the relevant import permit from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. Therefore, for proper processing at the port, the importer will be expected to present the original import permit, packing list, the Customs Declaration form (SAD 500), together with phytosanitary certificate for plants and or veterinary health certificates for animals as issued by the relevant departmental authorities. However, should non-compliance be identified, the matter would be handed over to the Enforcement Team of the DFFE for further investigation.

2.2    Demobilisation phase

The demobilisation phase will be done on the 16th of January 2026. By that time, our projections are that the majority of the travellers would have returned into the country. Therefore, those ports of entry with extended operating hours would be returning to their normal operating hours. Additional staff members would be returning to their normal posts, followed by operational debriefing sessions.

2.3    Sustenance phase
The sustenance phase will then start on the 17th of January 2026 characterised by returning the ports to normal operations which would continue into the 2026 Easter operations.

4. In conclusion,
We would like to remind members of the public about the BMA Hotline which is 080 122 9019 which is to be used to report any kind of corruption or unethical conduct experienced in the ports of entry or border law enforcement area. Otherwise, people can also use the BMA website which is www.bma.gov.za to log such reports. We assure the public, our stakeholders, and our international partners that the BMA is fully prepared, fully mobilised, and fully committed to delivering a seamless 2025/26 festive season operation. As the Border Management Authority, we would like to wish everyone a safe and pleasant festive season.

We continue to be at your service by Securing our Borders for Development.

Thank you

Media enquiries contact:
Mmemme Mogotsi
Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Communications and Marketing 
Cell: 072 856 4288.

#ServiceDeliveryZA