{"id":95111,"date":"2026-01-31T19:36:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T19:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season"},"modified":"2026-01-31T19:58:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T19:58:46","slug":"rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season","title":{"rendered":"Rise in Unaccompanied Minors Entering SA During Festive Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>The Border Management Authority (BMA) has noted a concerning rise in the number of unaccompanied minors intercepted while attempting to cross South Africa\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n<p>This revelation came as the BMA delivered its festive season report on Friday, outlining the challenges faced by officials during the high-traffic period.<\/p>\n<p>According to official statistics, 53 unaccompanied minors were discovered at the Beitbridge border, while an additional 15 were intercepted at the Lebombo Border Post.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Of serious concern was the interception of a Mozambican national who attempted to smuggle a South African child to Mozambique,&#8221; noted BMA Commissioner Michael Masiapato.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was later discovered that the child was reported missing in Johannesburg, and the suspect was immediately arrested and referred to SAPS for further processing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">South-Africa<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. The Border Management Authority (BMA) has noted a concerning rise in the number of unaccompanied minors intercepted while attempting to cross South Africa\u2019s borders. This revelation came as the BMA delivered its festive season report on Friday, outlining the challenges faced by officials during the high-traffic period. According to official statistics, 53 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":95110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-95111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rise in Unaccompanied Minors Entering SA During Festive Season - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Border Management Authority (BMA) has noted a concerning rise in the number of unaccompanied minors intercepted whil ...\" \/>\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\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rise in Unaccompanied Minors Entering SA During Festive Season\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Border Management Authority (BMA) has noted a concerning rise in the number of unaccompanied minors intercepted whil ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season\" \/>\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=\"2026-01-31T19:36:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-31T19:58:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/01\/sm_1769876864.615638.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\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=\"1 minute\" \/>\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\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Rise in Unaccompanied Minors Entering SA During Festive Season\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-31T19:36:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-31T19:58:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season\"},\"wordCount\":141,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/01\/sm_1769876864.615638.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season\",\"name\":\"Rise in Unaccompanied Minors Entering SA During Festive Season - South Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/01\/sm_1769876864.615638.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-31T19:36:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-31T19:58:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"The Border Management Authority (BMA) has noted a concerning rise in the number of unaccompanied minors intercepted whil ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/01\/sm_1769876864.615638.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/01\/sm_1769876864.615638.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Rise in Unaccompanied Minors Entering SA During Festive Season\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rise in Unaccompanied Minors Entering SA During Festive Season\"}]},{\"@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":"Rise in Unaccompanied Minors Entering SA During Festive Season - South Africa","description":"The Border Management Authority (BMA) has noted a concerning rise in the number of unaccompanied minors intercepted whil ...","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\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rise in Unaccompanied Minors Entering SA During Festive Season","og_description":"The Border Management Authority (BMA) has noted a concerning rise in the number of unaccompanied minors intercepted whil ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season","og_site_name":"South Africa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2026-01-31T19:36:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-31T19:58:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/01\/sm_1769876864.615638.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Rise in Unaccompanied Minors Entering SA During Festive Season","datePublished":"2026-01-31T19:36:47+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-31T19:58:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season"},"wordCount":141,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/01\/sm_1769876864.615638.jpg","keywords":["South-Africa"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season","name":"Rise in Unaccompanied Minors Entering SA During Festive Season - South Africa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/01\/sm_1769876864.615638.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-31T19:36:47+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-31T19:58:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"The Border Management Authority (BMA) has noted a concerning rise in the number of unaccompanied minors intercepted whil ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/01\/sm_1769876864.615638.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/01\/sm_1769876864.615638.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Rise in Unaccompanied Minors Entering SA During Festive Season"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/rise-in-unaccompanied-minors-entering-sa-during-festive-season#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rise in Unaccompanied Minors Entering SA During Festive Season"}]},{"@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\/95111","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=95111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}