Border force gets new money to hire inspectors as Godongwana targets illegal migration
The Border Management Authority says the extra capacity announced in the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement is what its ports of entry have been waiting for, though the amount has not been disclosed.
The Border Management Authority has welcomed additional funding for its capacity announced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement on Wednesday, with the agency’s commissioner calling it recognition of the BMA’s role in guarding the country’s ports of entry.
Godongwana said government is considering measures to strengthen the capacity of border inspectors and immigration officers to address illegal migration. The statement, carried by SAnews (South African Government News Agency), does not put a figure on the funding or say when it would be available.
BMA Commissioner Dr Michael Masiapato said the support was an important recognition of the authority’s strategic role. “Strengthening the Authority’s capacity is fundamental to building an effective, integrated and intelligence-led border management system,” he said. “As the BMA continues to implement its mandate, adequate resources are critical to enhancing our operational capabilities and responding to the demands placed on our ports of entry and border law enforcement environment.”
The authority said the announcement was an important step to enhance the security of South Africa’s borders, and that capacitation was essential if it is to respond to what it described as the growing demands of integrated border law enforcement. It also thanked Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber for what it called his continued advocacy for additional resources.
What the announcement changes on the ground is not yet set out in the record. The statement does not say how many inspectors or immigration officers would be added, which ports of entry would benefit, or over what period the money would be spent. Those are the questions the BMA and the Finance Ministry would need to answer before the capacitation can be measured against the queues and enforcement pressures at the country’s land, air and sea entry points.
The source material is a government news agency summary of the announcement and the BMA’s response, not the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement itself or the Treasury’s allocation schedules. The full document, published at https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/border-authority-welcomes-mtbps-capacitation-announcement, carries the minister’s remarks and the commissioner’s statement.
