Overview
- Between July and September, officials recorded 8,135 interception incidents, including 4,092 undocumented entrants, 2,061 inadmissible travellers and 1,982 classified as undesirables.
- About 8,000 people were arrested for attempting illegal entry in the quarter, with Basotho leading the tally followed by Zimbabweans and Mozambicans.
- BMA officers processed 9,283,658 travellers in the period, a roughly 23% year‑on‑year increase, with surveillance technology such as drones credited for aiding apprehensions.
- Enforcement teams destroyed 5,000 illicit birth control pills, 117 medical test kits and harmful skin‑lightening creams, while also seizing about 1,700 kg of counterfeit apparel, hard drugs and illicit cigarettes, with SAHPRA warning of serious health risks from some products.
- Holiday operations include extended hours at selected posts with Botswana, Mozambique and Eswatini and at five Lesotho crossings, with peak departures expected from 10–31 December and returns through 15 January.