The South African government is looking to upgrade six of its land ports, including Beitbridge (pictured) to include cutting-edge technology that would detect illegal movement of goods and people easily. File Picture: Timothy Bernard/African News Agency (ANA)
Government is calling on the private sector to partner with it to not only redesign and redevelop six of its busiest land ports in the country, but also to inject cutting-edge infrastructure and technology in those ports.
In a joint press conference, lead by Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, he explained the Request for Proposals which appeared in the Sunday newspapers on September 3.
Having launched the Border Guards of the Border Management Authority last year, Motsoaledi said this upgrade with add another layer in the country's efforts to make South Africa’s borders safer, less porous, and more importantly, very efficient in facilitation and easing of trade, as well as the legitimate movement of people.
Motsoaledi said that South Africa’s ports of entry were designed during the apartheid era with the primary objective of tightened security, while neglecting the effective facilitation of regional and international trade.
“In fact, ladies and gentlemen, it is not an over exaggeration to state that when you visit our land ports of entry, between us and our SADC neighbours, the South African side of the border looks like informal settlements while the other side looks like Sandton,” he said.
The six earmarked ports of entry are:
Beitbridge - Zimbabwe
Lebombo - Mozambique
Maseru Bridge – Lesotho
Ficksburg - Lesotho
Kopfontein - Botswana
Oshoek - eSwatini
The outcome of the redevelopment of these Ports of Entry will be used as a blueprint in the long-term for all other South African land ports of entry. South Africa has 72 Ports of Entry, of which 53 are land, 11 are international airports and eight are seaports, all of which are now operated by the Border Management Authority.
The multi-billion rand Public-Private Partnership (PPP) construction will be undertaken in phases, with the State expecting the project to create at least 38,000 jobs in areas around the six designated ports of entry.
In the Request For Proposal, the State said they were expecting the prospective partner companies to install latest technologies such as gamma rays scanners so that each truck can drive through them.
Gamma Ray technology can pick up anything from illicit cigarettes, liquor, paper money and human beings, Motsoaledi said.
Some ports in other jurisdictions are still using X-ray technology which has been regarded as outdated.
Motsoaledi shared an incident in 2020 where a truck arrived at the Lebombo Border Post full of brooms to the brim, purporting to be transporting them to Mozambique.
When the brooms were removed, as part of the inspection process, a brand new Ford Ranger was discovered on the bed of the truck.
On further investigation, it was uncovered that the car was stolen in Sandton on November 30, 2020.
“These types of incidents may keep on happening on a regular basis because our method of managing movement of trucks through our borders is via sampling; whereby trucks are selected on the basis of a risk profile. This means that some trucks carrying illicit goods such as, cigarettes, liquor or trafficked people can escape undetected,” Motsoaledi said.
The Request For Proposals is on the e-tender portal and other government websites, including the Department of Home Affairs website.
Officials are expected to unpack the Request for Proposals to bidders on September 27, followed by site visits to the identified Ports of Entry.
“For now, I wish to end by inviting our private sector partners for each of them to outline their role in this project,” Motsoaledi said.
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za
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