Over 3 million travellers through SA ports

More people passed through the country's national ports of entry this year compared to last year, the home affairs department said in a statement on Thursday.

 

Spokesman Ronnie Mamoepe said over three million travellers documents were processed at ports since the start of the month.

 

"According to the Home Affairs Movement Control system a total of 3, 262,520 travellers were recorded in our ports of entry for the period of December 1 to 25, 2013 which represents an increase of 8.32 percent compared to the 2012 statistics which recorded a figure of 3,011,935."

 

The busiest point of entry was the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, followed by the Beit Bridge border, with Zimbabwe, in Limpopo.

 

Mampoepe said the top nationalities leaving South Africa were from Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. 

 

He said the department deployed more staff, extended staffers' working hours and office infrastructure to ensure processing was effective and efficient.

 

The department worked with customs, the SA Revenue Service, SA Police, SA National Defence Force, and the health and agriculture departments during the festive rush.

 

"These measures will remain in place throughout the festive season and extend to cover events associated with the forthcoming CHAN2014 Soccer Tournament scheduled for South Africa from January 11 to February 4, 2014," said Mamoepe.

 

-Sapa