Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula, says law enforcement officials must ensure strict rules are regularly enforced at ports of entry in an effort to deter international criminal syndicates.
Mbalula was speaking during a media briefing.
Mbalula and Home Affairs Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, visited the OR Tambo International Airport in Gauteng on Saturday- to assess safety measures at the port of entry.
“Plans, we have agreed and implement, must be supported with massive resources to undermine any syndicates that think of making and turning our airports into a banana republic,” says Mbalula.
Motsoaledi says his department is contemplating the reintroduction of transit visas – which are issued to foreigners who pass through South Africa en route to neighboring countries.
“One of the measures we are going to take, apart from the alertness of the police to catch them, is that we are going to demand transit visas.”
Briefing on measures to curb illegal immigrantion activities at O.R. Tambo Airport:
