Crossing the SA -Botswana Border- Wish we could do better

From: Ramantswana, Tebogo: Sales Finance Controller

To: Mr Patrick Chauke: Chairperson Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs

Dear Honourable Chauke,

Trust that you are well. Just thought of sending you this email regarding the service levels at our border, particularly the ones that I have passed thru.

This past weekend I travelled to Botswana on a Church trip, I belong to the Zion Christian Church, and this was my second time crossing over. I had crossed the Mafikeng border, the Stockpoort and the Groblers gates. However, I do have a couple of observations that I wanted to raise for your consideration:

· Every time I was on the South African side, there was always chaos in terms managing the lines of people, but more importantly, there was not even a single official ready to tell people where to go and to do what.

· When you get to approach these SA officials, they would not be approachable at all. It is almost like they are not even happy to be there at all.

· I agree that this is all relative and in comparison to the Botswana officials, and I agree. However, if at all the issue of unexpected large numbers is raised, I would say the same applies to the Botswana side, yet the Botswana officials still serve with a smile and they are treat their jobs with respect and also serve us with pride in their jobs

· One other thing that really amazes me is that SA seems to be all geared up to deliver a better service, you look at the infrastructure, the computers, our officials are" well dressed" and even armed, when Batswana only have a whistle and a stick... yet when you interact with the Sa officials, you would swear they suspect you for a criminal.

· One SA officials told us straight away that if we are not back by 6pm, they close their side of the border, and they don't care even what Botswana will be doing even if they open. Now from a Southern African point of view, we should be working together. From an institutional point of view and for better relations between gov and its people we should be facilitating better movement of our people. In this regards, I wish to say that if at all millions of ZCC members plan to cross the border on a certain weekend, surely the relevant gov department should be aware and thus arrange for the necessary requirements, be it extra personnel, and even charge us for it if there is the need, so that the can be smooth running at our borders.

· I also think that if at all the attitude of our SA officials is as bad because of poor working conditions, then perhaps we need to do something about it.

My apologies for the unstructured mail. Should you need more clarity I will be happy to reply.

Ebe Kgotso,

A nightmare crossing Grobler's Bridge Border Post, with inadequate help from Home Affairs

On 03 November 2007 we undertook a journey to Mahalapye in Botswana to attend a church prayer service there. We got frustrated, disappointed and helped-less at the Grobler's Bridge Border Post, as the immigration officers were not enough.

We arrived at the border gate at 15h40 and made to leave at 21h35 because of the extreme shortages of immigration officers from the South African side. They were only six immigration officers attending to thousands and thousands of us who were going to Botswana. Some counters were empty. Where were the immigration officers? It was a nightmare! Long queues, lack of coordination from immigration, lack of parking space were some of the problems we experienced. Hence it took us six hours to get cleared from the South African side.

Miraculously, our frustrations disappeared when we entered the land of Botswana at Martin's Drift Border Post. We were well received by the smiling faces of immigration officers from Botswana. There were about fifty immigration officers at their counters. There was not a single counter that was visibly empty, in contrast to what we have seen at the South African side. It took us roughly 15-20 minutes to get cleared by immigration officers of Botswana. We were very impressed by the planning demonstrated by the Batswana. Their service was highly effective. Their communication and coordination was excellent. Their immigration officers were even speaking from loud speakers or inter-corns directing us what to do at what desks and by whom. There were no congestions as everything moved smoothly. Outside, the Botswana police even without guns were visible allover controlling the situation.

One could once more asks the questions to say given that Botswana is a country with a population estimated to be only 10 million, why was it possible for them to put enough immigration officers (50 officers) at Grobler's Bridge? For South African, a country with a population of about 47 million, why would Home Affairs deploy only six immigration officers at the border? 2010 is just around the comer with the first biggest soccer tournament on the African soil, is Home Affairs ready for this? Africans are soccer lovers. The world loves soccer too. If it were an issue of capacity, it would be hard to believe why the department is taking time to address this given the fact that the country has many unemployed graduates roaming the streets without jobs. By absorbing the graduates, surely the Department of Home Affairs can playa meaningful role by filling in the many vacant posts there in many of its structures. By so doing, this would also assist to bring down the high levels of unemployment in the country. Consequently, service delivery would be drastically fast-tracked and improved at Home Affairs.

It's not surprising why officials from Home Affairs are doing the complete opposite of Batho Pele. This was seen in many areas were officials don't treat you with courtesy, some are arrogant is like they are doing you a favour by providing you with the service which you are rightfully entitled to. It is because of the fact that these poor souls are understaffed and over-worked. The moral is low. They work for Home Affairs because they don't have a choice. Home Affairs should be made the employer of choice. Home affairs should learn from National Treasury, which became the best department in a space of less than ten years. Treasury filled its vacant posts with graduates and offered them on-job training. The results delivered by those fresh young minds straight from a university or college are excellent. The turn-around strategy at Home Affairs should also come up with 0 % vacant posts rate at Home Affairs to help address the many problems there from the main offices to the branches locally and internationally.

In conclusion, we wish that the experience we had should not be repeated at other points of entry as we are still going to travel, and so do other people. Home Affairs should put all the required capacity of resources and officials at border posts to welcome visitors all the time.

On the positive side, some Home Affairs offices, like the one in Groblersdal in Limpopo province, should be applauded for delivering the passports on time to our grannies and others who applied to go to Botswana.