PARLIAMENT ONE STOP BORDER POST BILL
ONLINE EDITOR @KASIBC_AFRICA
PARLIAMENT ONE STOP BORDER POST BILL
One Stop Border Post Bill: SA’s immigration problem is the result of state inaction and poor cooperation with our neighbours
The following remarks were delivered in the National Assembly during the Second Reading Debate on the One Stop Border Post Bill. Ndza khensa, Mutshami wa Xitulu, Honourable Members, Fellow South Africans
I have said this before, and I will say it again: it must be easy to enter our country legally, and near impossible to enter illegally. Yet, today, we face the opposite situation. Far too many people cross our borders illegally, while illicit goods, drugs, and minerals flow in and out of our country with alarming ease. So, as we debate the One Stop Border Post Bill, we must ask: does this Bill make it easier for the legal movement of people and goods, while making it harder for illegal movement and corruption? Honourable Members, this Bill has great potential.
If implemented properly, it can help us address long-standing border management challenges. It can make our borders more efficient, ease congestion, enable faster trade, and enhance South Africa’s competitiveness within the region. A more efficient border system can stimulate legitimate business and strengthen our economic integration within the Southern African Development Community, SADC region. Every person that enters South Africa through land borders is either from the SADC region or passes through the region. Our neighbours have neighbours. But potential alone is not enough.
This Bill will not succeed unless it is supported by strong regulations, effective enforcement, and binding international agreements that uphold both security and human dignity at our borders.
We must be honest about one thing, our borders are porous. But the solution is not to build a wall between South Africa and her neighbours.
The success of this Bill depends on partnership and trust among SADC member states. We share borders, economies, and families. If one state fails to manage its documentation processes, the entire region feels the impact. Many of the undocumented foreign nationals in our country are not here out of malice, they are victims of weak administrative systems in their own countries, where obtaining a passport or travel document is expensive or nearly impossible.
For this Bill to succeed, SADC and broader African governments must ensure that their citizens have access to proper travel and identification documents. Our immigration problem is the result of both state inaction and poor cooperation with our neighbours. Our government has failed to consistently enforce our laws, leaving our people exposed to criminal syndicates and leaving migrants vulnerable to a broken, corrupt immigration system.
This failure is not only embarrassing — it is dangerous. Let us know who and what enters our country. Let it be near-impossible to smuggle anything or anyone across our borders. And let it be fair, safe, and simple to enter and stay in our country legally.
Honourable Members, let this Bill mark the beginning of a new era, one of cooperation within SADC, efficiency at our borders, and dignity for all who cross them lawfully.
That is how we build a safer and more prosperous South Africa.
Ndza khensa!
MAKEKASIGREAT©®™ @KASIBC_AFRICA
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