As South Africa’s festive season draws to a close, the nation's ports of entry are preparing for a significant influx of returning holidaymakers.
Border Management Authority (BMA) commissioner Michael Masiapato visited Beitbridge Border Post to oversee the processing of returning travellers from holidays.
“We had effectively started; as you will remember, this operation started on the 10th of December, and we just concluded on New Year’s Eve on the 31st in terms of the exit leg. So yesterday we started with the return leg…”
“As we speak now, we can confirm that we have set up four areas of processing, where we are going to be processing people as they come back into the country. We are going to be processing all the people that will be using small vehicles,” Masiapato said, adding that the operation for small vehicles was already underway.
A week ago, a violent incident drew attention to the perilous challenges faced by border management authorities after a routine festive-season patrol in Limpopo escalated into a dangerous encounter. On 26 December 2025, SANDF soldiers were forced to respond to an unusually large and aggressive influx of undocumented migrants.
“This marks the first time our members have had to manage such a massive influx during this period of the festive season,” said SANDF spokesperson Captain Moses Semono.
The situation turned violent when one of the soldiers, Rifleman T.M. Mokoena, sustained a stab wound to his forearm while defending himself.
“Due to the high standard of training provided by the Defence Force, Rifleman Mokoena was able to thwart the danger and neutralise the threat without resorting to deadly force,” Semono added.
All intercepted individuals, 1,174 undocumented migrants, were later handed over to South African Immigration Services in good health.
anita.nkonki@inl.co.za
Saturday Star