Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs has called for “political will” to deal with problems identified at Lebombo Border Control.
Members of Parliament visited the port of entry on Thursday and according to the chairperson, advocate Bongani Bongo, they were unanimous in their criticism of the operations within the border post.
He said more especially because the authorities were processing a limited number of people as a result of the borders being closed.
“Today the committee found that there was no adherence to basic health protocols such as social distancing and availability of hand sanitisers, measures that are scientifically proven to be the best tools in the fight against Covid-19,” he said.
“Also worrying was the limited port health practitioners to test people arriving at the border, a problem which extended the period of stay at the border and which has a potential of being a super spreader.”
Bongo said the Portfolio Committee “was astounded to find only three port health officials” while raising concerns around the non-functionality of the speed point machines that impacted the ability of travellers to pay for the test.
He said the Portfolio Committee has called for an urgent action plan from stakeholder departments at ports of entry aimed at ensuring adherence to health protocols that are intended to curb the transmission of Covid-19.
“We need political will to deal with the problem and the urgent implementation of the BMA (Border Management Act) is required. Also, people must be held accountable for the challenges” added Bongo.
He said the committee would invite the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, to its next meeting to account for the operations at Lebombo since the closure of the borders.
