Immigration boss hails smooth holiday travel
Maranyane Ngwanaamotho | Wednesday April 23, 2014 11:23
“It was a job well done. We did very well. This was because we had prepared very well. We had a plan and we actualised it,” the director of Immigration and Citizenship, Mabuse Pule said yesterday. He said the difference is that since last year, they plan for peak times, something they did not do in the past.
“We used to work haphazardly. We acted depending on demand. But this time we planned in time, checked systems, checked machines and moved staff to stations on time,” he explained. The department reinforced staff at main border gates and extended operation times for some.
Martins Drift border gate was reinforced with 10 officers from the Serowe office. In addition, the regional director was brought in from Serowe to manage operations at the border gate. On Thursday and Monday, the border gate closed at midnight and not the usual 10pm.
Tlokweng border gate stuck to its midnight closure but had eight additional officers, bringing the total number of workstations for both arrivals and departure to 16. In addition, Pule said the workstations worked interchangeably, depending on the load.
“We were flexible enough to move more staff to whichever side had more people (clients). We could reduce workstations for arrivals and increase for departure and vice-versa depending on where the majority was coming from,” he explained.
Ramokgwebana border gate also had eight more officers brought in from Francistown regional office. The border gate extended operations by two hours to midnight. There were no changes at Mamuno border gate, which is normally quiet, even during holidays. “Usually there is no traffic to Namibia as compared to South Africa and Zimbabwe,” explained Pule. The border gate closes at 10pm everyday.
Pule said that they did not receive complaints from the public during the holidays, which gives them confidence that things went well. “Even up to now, I haven’t received a single compliant,” he said.