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.