Easter: half-a-million cross SA borders

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3 April 2013

South Africa processed over half-a-million travellers at the country’s ports of entry without any glitches over the Easter long weekend, the Department of Home Affairs reports.

The department had deployed extra personnel and increased working hours at all national ports of entry – including land, sea and air ports – to deal with expected high traveller volumes during the period.

These efforts were complemented by the visits of Minister Naledi Pandor and Director-General Mkuseli Apleni to the Beitbridge and Lebombo ports of entry on Thursday.

Working together with the South African Revenue Service customs officials, the SA Police Service and the SA National Defence Force, a total of 273 888 arrivals and 312 352 departures were recorded and processed on the country’s Movement Control System.

The Movement Control System, a legacy of 2010 Fifa World Cup, was deployed at all major ports of entry across the country over the Easter Weekend.

Countries with the highest number of travellers crossing South Africa’s borders over the weekend were Lesotho with 88 227, Zimbabwe with 77 277, Swaziland with 50 492, Botswana with 49 500 and Mozambique with 44 414.

Overseas countries with the highest number of South Africa travellers were the UK with 17 072, the USA with 8 951, and Germany with 8 183, while China and India accounted for 3 676 and 3 249 travellers respectively.

The ports of entry with the highest volumes of travellers processed included Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport, and the Beitbridge, Lebombo, Ficksburg and Oshoek border gates.

Source: SAnews.gov.za