SA’s borders are a shambles, absorbing illegal migrants and contraband at an alarming rate. Hence the six-year long process to create a Border Management Agency. The country has more than 4,400km of border with 72 ports of entry through which about 39-million people pass annually. The borders are notoriously porous and to gain a foothold in the country illegal and economic migrants do not present themselves at points of entry. Neither do rhino poachers and human traffickers. A handful of South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers patrol the borders, meaning it is relatively easy to cross secretly. It is at the points of entry that the Border Management Agency would have to make a difference. Five organs of state operate there — the Department of Home Affairs, the South African Police Service (SAPS), the South African Revenue Service (SARS), the SANDF and the State Security Agency. But they work in silos and some have specific constitutional mandates to fulfil. For example...
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