Overview
- The Border Management Authority’s 10-day Easter operation, which ran from March 31 to April 9, intercepted 4,763 people attempting illegal entry or exit, a 24% drop from the 2025 period.
- Officers arrested 138 alleged facilitators, a 22% rise from last year. Suspects were handed to the South African Police Service for charges under section 49(2) of the Immigration Act.
- Ports processed more than 1.2 million traveller movements across 71 sites, up 21%, led by OR Tambo International Airport with 234,389, Lebombo with 195,293, and Beit Bridge with 148,451.
- About 3,170 of those intercepted lacked documents, 998 were recorded as undesirables, and 595 were ruled inadmissible for issues such as fake visas or missing yellow fever proof. Undocumented people were fingerprinted, banned for five years as undesirable, and deported, while 29 minors were placed with Social Development for safe care and family reunification.
- The BMA linked the decline to drones, body‑worn cameras, push‑to‑talk radios, and the removal of makeshift boats, ropes, and anchors on the Limpopo and Caledon rivers in a strategy that targets the networks that enable crossings.