Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba says 30 additional staff will be deployed at the Maseru border post between Lesotho and South Africa for the Easter holidays.
Gigaba went to the busiest ports, Maseru and Ficksburg, in response to a Pretoria meeting with Lesotho Foreign Affairs, and reports that King Letsie the third was ill-treated by officials.
Both this visit and the promise by International Relations Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to apologise personally to the King are intended to avert a planned shutdown of borders next week.
Minister Gigaba pleads for patience. Among complaints of protestors is understaffing and individual fingerprinting which cause delays
Gigaba says once Bio-metric data is shared between the two countries the fingerprinting and stamping of passports will be stopped for trusted travellers.
He says in the next 18 months Home Affairs will overhaul infrastructure at the main ports, and pleads for patience.
