Half a million travellers processed at ports of entry over Easter

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 complimented by the visits of Minister Naledi Pandor and Director General Mkuseli Apleni to Beitbridge and Lebombo ports of entry respectively on Thursday, ahead of the Easter weekend.

Working together with other state agencies such as South African Revenue Service (SARS) Customs, South African Police Service (SAPS) and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), 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 is a legacy of 2010 FIFA World Cup and it was deployed t all major ports of entry across the country during the Easter Weekend.

The top five SADC countries whose nationals were processed during the same period are: Lesotho with 88 227; Zimbabwe with 77 277; Swaziland with 50 492; Botswana with 49 500 and Mozambique with 44 414.

On the other hand, the top three European nationals processed in the same period were: UK with 17 072 travellers; the USA with 8 951 and Germany with 8 183 with nationals from China and India accounting for 3 676 and 3 249 respectively.

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