Patriotic Alliance Seeks More Security Officials At Beitbridge To Protect South Africa's Border

The Patriotic Alliance (PA) on Thursday has called for more security personnel at Beitbridge Border Post, located in Limpopo, between South Africa and Zimbabwe to protect the South African borders and prevent illegal entry of people from Zimbabwe.

PA, a South African political party in opposition, conducted unsanctioned patrols at the Beitbridge border post, and posted videos of the same surfaced on social media, where the party members can be seen asking Zimbabweans to not enter the South African border by crossing the Limpopo River.

PA also demanded more security personnel to tighten the security at the borders, as per EWN.

Gayton McKenzie, the PA leader, shared a video of himself addressing the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, and noted that there is no border between the two countries.

"Your Excellency @CyrilRamaphosa, we have no border between SA & Zim, we are borderless, Beitbridge is a crime zone & a farce," he wrote alongside the video.

McKenzie shared that he along with the party members were informed by the residents that the trucks had been parked at the border for the last two days allegedly to unload the illegal material in South Africa including cigarettes.

"It's crazy how many empty trucks are just parking by the roadside for 24 hours now, trucks waiting for cigarettes, and I don't know what else. The locals told us that it was cigarette trucks. We have interrupted business as usual," he said, IOL reported.

Hundreds of Zimbabwean nationals are allegedly utilizing the Limpopo River as an illegal entry point into South Africa in search of better opportunities.

In a separate video posted by McKenzie on X, formerly known as Twitter, he and his party members can be seen running towards the river to stop the other side of the people from crossing the border illegally.

Kenny Kunene, Deputy President of PA also shared a video, showing how the other side of the people were ready with boats to cross the river.

"We are clearing Limpopo River banks. No one will cross here for as long as we are here. Salute," he wrote alongside the video.

Mike Masiapato, who serves as Border Management Authority Commissioner, said that the department has been checking people properly and documenting them before letting them in the country.

"We have to use that approach, which is a different approach, to make sure that we do not have people inside the port who don't have proper documentation because those are people who ultimately find themselves having to bribe our officials and all of that," he said. "We have intensified our deployment at the north gate."

Last year in October, Ramaphosa met with Zimbabwean counterpart Emmerson Mnangagwa to foster cooperation between the two countries in ensuring that the Beitbridge border post works properly. They also spoke about issues concerning illegal cross-border activities.