{"id":7861,"date":"2021-04-06T18:47:39","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T18:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?p=7861"},"modified":"2021-04-06T17:29:53","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T17:29:53","slug":"covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19 tests cause big delays at border posts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – South-Africa<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Durban – The urgent implementation of the new Border Management Authority (BMA) Act has come under the spotlight yet again as thousands of travellers on Monday struggled to enter the country due to major delays at critical ports of entry.<\/p>\n

The end of the Easter long weekend saw many people returning from their vacations across the border, particularly at the Lebombo Border Post between Mozambique and Mpumalanga.<\/p>\n

Travellers entering the country had to abide by the regulations, which included the mandatory wearing of masks at all times, practising social distancing and presenting a negative Covid-19 test result not older than 72 hours.<\/p>\n

If they did not have a Covid-19 certificate clearing them of the virus, travellers had to be tested at the border and wait for their results before they could be let through.<\/p>\n

The border controls around South Africa have always been a contentious issue, and many people hoped the BMA would reduce the problems.<\/p>\n

The BMA Bill was passed by Parliament last year to create a single agency that would man the borders.<\/p>\n

The BMA Bill had been in Parliament for several years, and a few years ago it was ramped up, with the national legislature approving it last year.<\/p>\n

DA MP Adrian Roos said that although the BMA came into effect two months ago, he questioned why there was still no project plan with funding and deadlines for the authority.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lack of action from Home Affairs to put forward a plan for the expected December\/January traffic led to a humanitarian crisis at the borders, where NATJOINTS stepped into the leadership void to resolve the crisis, with the BMA a passive spectator,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roos said the BMA Act opened the doors for the establishment of a border guard and a coast guard but said that there was currently no information available on this aspect of the BMA\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n

It is estimated it will take 15 years to implement the BMA, with an estimated establishment cost of more than R600 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Africa does not have 15 years to wait for an agency that may not materialise. Home Affairs needs a concrete plan for the 15-year implementation period, or return to the border management agency, rather than authority, concept,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A report published by the Institute of Security Studies in August last year said that centralising the country\u2019s border functions under Home Affairs was \u201can expensive and curious decision\u201d.<\/p>\n

In January, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Njabulo Nzuza confirmed to Parliament that the appointment of the head of the new agency to oversee the country\u2019s borders would take place soon.<\/p>\n

Since then, Home Affairs has been mum on the matter, with a date yet to be announced.<\/p>\n

Related Video:<\/b><\/p>\n

[email protected]<\/p>\n

Political Bureau<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Durban – The urgent implementation of the new Border Management Authority (BMA) Act has come under the spotlight yet again as thousands of travellers on Monday struggled to enter the country due to major delays at critical ports of entry. The end of the Easter long weekend saw many people returning from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":7860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-7861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nCovid-19 tests cause big delays at border posts - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Durban - The urgent implementation of the new Border Management Authority (BMA) Act has come under the spotlight yet aga ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Covid-19 tests cause big delays at border posts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Durban - The urgent implementation of the new Border Management Authority (BMA) Act has come under the spotlight yet aga ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-06T18:47:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/04\/img-606c9a70a9cd5.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"404\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Covid-19 tests cause big delays at border posts\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-06T18:47:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts\"},\"wordCount\":468,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/04\/img-606c9a70a9cd5.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts\",\"name\":\"Covid-19 tests cause big delays at border posts - South Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/04\/img-606c9a70a9cd5.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-06T18:47:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Durban - The urgent implementation of the new Border Management Authority (BMA) Act has come under the spotlight yet aga ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/04\/img-606c9a70a9cd5.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/04\/img-606c9a70a9cd5.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":404,\"caption\":\"Covid-19 tests cause big delays at border posts\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Covid-19 tests cause big delays at border posts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\",\"name\":\"South Africa\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Covid-19 tests cause big delays at border posts - South Africa","description":"Durban - The urgent implementation of the new Border Management Authority (BMA) Act has come under the spotlight yet aga ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Covid-19 tests cause big delays at border posts","og_description":"Durban - The urgent implementation of the new Border Management Authority (BMA) Act has come under the spotlight yet aga ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts","og_site_name":"South Africa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2021-04-06T18:47:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":404,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/04\/img-606c9a70a9cd5.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Covid-19 tests cause big delays at border posts","datePublished":"2021-04-06T18:47:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts"},"wordCount":468,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/04\/img-606c9a70a9cd5.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-South-Africa","South-Africa"],"articleSection":["all news","head lines","homepage-english","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts","name":"Covid-19 tests cause big delays at border posts - South Africa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/04\/img-606c9a70a9cd5.jpg","datePublished":"2021-04-06T18:47:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Durban - The urgent implementation of the new Border Management Authority (BMA) Act has come under the spotlight yet aga ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/04\/img-606c9a70a9cd5.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/04\/img-606c9a70a9cd5.jpg","width":720,"height":404,"caption":"Covid-19 tests cause big delays at border posts"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/covid-19-tests-cause-big-delays-at-border-posts#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Covid-19 tests cause big delays at border posts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/","name":"South Africa","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}