Border chaos looms

Road freight into Africa is set to be seriously disrupted on October 1 when South Africa introduces new immigration regulations. When immigration officials tried to introduce regulations last month requiring Mozambicans to be able to show they had R3 000 with them when they entered South Africa, there were riots and the Lebombo border was blockaded until Home Affairs backed down, a freight industry insider told FTW. In the new move by Home Affairs, all 40 border posts with Zimbabwe, Botwana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia will be affected when South Africa becomes the first country in the world to insist that minors entering or leaving must have on them an unabridged birth certificate. Some 60 percent of the approximately 465 000 minors who enter SA in a year come from SADC states according to South African government statistics. In a report released by Unicef a few months ago, most parents from SADC states will not be in a position to comply and will be turned away at the border. Unicef reports Southern and East Africa has the worst record when it comes to parents registering births (see table). In many cases where births are registered, Unicef found that in countries like Lesotho (60 percent) and Zambia (62 percent) parents who had registered their children had no documentary proof by the time the children were five. The new regulations are being introduced to reduce child trafficking. Travel and trade associations have tried to persuade Home Affairs to delay the introduction of the new regulations. Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, has made it clear his department will not be moved on this.