29 Dec 2014

Tlokweng boarder post experienced large transactions of migrants flocking into the country and those leaving the country between December 15 and 25.

According to statistics from Tlokweng Boarder post, more Batswana have left the country through the boarder registering 12 114 departures compared to 11, 431 last year.On the other hand, numbers of Batswana who made arrivals into the country through the boarder were slightly lower registering 11, 208 compared to 11,308 in 2013.

In an interview with BOPA, Tlokweng Boarder Post chief Immigration Assistant, Keene Bathokebafe said compared to other nations they registered most South African citizens coming to Botswana.She said in their records, other multiple nationals who came in large numbers predominately registered that they were coming primarily for tourism purposes while others were in transit to other tourism destinations such as Namibia, Mozambique and others.

She said as it is the norm around Christmas, they experienced large numbers of Batswana belonging to different church denominations who departed the country between December 15 and 25 to congregate in other countries.

“At times, we were compelled to close the boarder after 12 midnight because the congestion was just too much. However after helping them they will find the South African boarder closed and come back to us for assistance,” she said.

Bathokebafe said it was important for people to plan their festive holidays journeys well in time, enquire and establish boarder closing hours to avoid any inconveniences.  She said some had to spend a night at South African Boarder Post as a result.

She said they experienced minor challenges with people coming accompanied by minors (Children below 15 years) without proper documents resulting in denied entry.She explained that four South African citizens were denied entry on account of expired travel documents while two people, a Nigerian and a Democratic Republic of Congo were denied entry because they failed to meet the VISA requirement.

While some nationals a Zimbabwean and a South African had valid passport documents but they did not present themselves to Immigration officials hence were charged accordingly.BOPA.