BMA gets into bed with Tourism Dept to tackle festive season port queues

The Border Management Authority (BMA) is receiving a significant boost from the Department of Tourism to manage expected long queues at ports of entry during the busy festive period.

BMA Commissioner Michael Masiapato announced this on Sunday in Pretoria.

He said the Department of Tourism will hand over 160 tour monitors to the authority to assist with queue management.

This will form part of the BMA's comprehensive festive season law enforcement strategy.

The BMA's 2025/2026 festive season operational plan will be rolled out in four distinct phases: planning, execution, demobilisation and sustenance.

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Capacity support is already underway as part of the planning phase.

The Gauteng Provincial Government will deploy 80 staff members to assist at various ports of entry, includingairports.

The Western Cape will contribute a further 50 officials to support BMA teams in screening arriving travellers.

Masiapato stressed the importance of these collaborative efforts for the relatively new authority.

"We are standing in a position where we are not able as an authority to deliver this particular work by ourselves, and that is why we had to advance these partnerships. We do know that the authority is fairly young, and we are to build capacity as we go forward."

The festive season plan also includes essential cooperation with additional law enforcement agencies, such as the South African Police Service (SAPS).