Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Lebombo Border Back to Normal After Festive Surge as BMA Reports 88 ‘Undesirables’

Officials say automated checks handled most travellers during the peak period.

Overview

  • The Border Management Authority says the post processed more than 25,000 travellers per day at the height of the rush, including 18,450 exits on Christmas Day.
  • Manual processing was temporarily introduced for some South African and Mozambican nationals—about 450 people—whose details are being reconciled on the Enhanced Movement Control System.
  • Authorities declared 88 people undesirable for overstaying, seized over 80 pairs of Nike sneakers, and arrested a suspected migration facilitator charged under the Immigration Act.
  • Cargo teams cleared roughly 805 trucks at KM7 on Christmas Day, which the BMA says removed congestion on the N4 corridor toward Lebombo.
  • The BMA reports operations have returned to normal, even as a staffing shortfall of about 2,600 officers versus a planned 11,000 draws criticism and fresh calls for parliamentary scrutiny.