BMA still monitoring situation in Mozambique as they prepare for festive travel

As people gear up for festive season travel, the Border Management Authority (BMA) said it is not able to give a full account of whether it is safe to visit Mozambique.

BMA commissioner Michael Masiapato said there had been an escalation of demonstrations in the past week, which continued to disrupt port operations particularly between 9am and 4pm.

Masiapato said since the start of the protests in Ressano Garcia, there have been no incidents that affected infrastructure or human resources on the South African side. 

“The deployment of the Mozambican security forces on the ground has maintained a steady posture with preventive measures being employed to mitigate the risks,” he said.

“As of this morning [Monday], the status at Lebombo is stable and we are processing both travellers and cargo as required. However, we continue to monitor the situation on the Mozambican side and should there be interruptions, we will reassess our operations within the ports,” he said.

On Monday the BMA commissioner unveiled the festive season plan covering border activities during the exit leg for December and the return leg through January.

Masiapato advised travellers leaving and/or entering South Africa to ensure all their travel documents are in order to avoid any unnecessary delays at the ports of entry. 

As required by international protocols, he said all travellers should have a valid machine-readable passport and a visa where applicable. 

“Furthermore, travellers are reminded that their passports should have at least one empty page to enable the BMA immigration team members to accordingly stamp the passports as required. As for those wishing to cross the border using a financed vehicle, they should be in possession of the letter from their financing institution authorising them to exit the country with the vehicle,” he said.

Masiapato reminded parents travelling with minor children to carry the child’s unabridged birth certificate unless their details are endorsed in the parent’s passport. 

“In cases where one parent is travelling with a child in the absence of another parent, a consent letter from the absent parent granting permission to the other parent to exit the country with the child will be required. This requirement is mainly applicable to South Africans intending to exit the country with children. Considering the expected high volumes in this festive period, we would like to appeal to all travellers to plan their travel early and exercise patience on the roads towards ports,” he said.

Masiapato said while awaiting the delivery of their drones, they have forged a partnership with the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development which will deploy their drones to assist with an enhanced level of border security and domain awareness at the problematic vulnerable segments, ports and corridors. 

He said drone operations will be supported by mobile reaction units, which would be situated at or close to the ports of entry to allow for quick reaction and apprehension of illegal migrants and other cross-border criminals.

Home affairs minister Dr Leon Schreiber is expected to visit the Lebombo port of entry on December 11 to observe the deployment of the drone capabilities in the border management environment. 

Masiapato said they have also received notification from the department that Schreiber has extended the validity of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permits (ZEP) to November 28 2025. He said all ports of entry have been notified of the development to ensure the correct processing of the ZEP holders.

Masiapato emphasised that all arriving travellers must expect to be screened on their arrival at the ports of entry. He said this is meant to avoid any unintentional importation of any communicable or infectious diseases into the country. 

The travellers arriving from Yellow Fever endemic areas have been reminded that they are required to have valid certificates.

“These requirements also apply to travellers who will be in transit for more than 12 hours within our airports,” Masiapato said.

He said travellers should also note that some parts of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal are endemic for malaria. 

According to Masiapato, the multidisciplinary anti-corruption teams have enhanced their vigilance since the beginning of this year to detect officials who tend to process travel documents for individuals who do not present themselves before the immigration officer as required by the Immigration Act.

He said this year, three BMA immigration officers have been given precautionary suspensions, while seven officials were dismissed and 43 cases of misconduct are at various stages of the disciplinary process.

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