Minister wants border management Bill finalised

Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi is frustrated at Parliament’s long delay in the adoption of the Border Management Authority Bill, which he believes is needed ‘as of yesterday’. A Business Day report notes the Bill provides for the establishment of a single border control authority to replace the multiplicity of agencies and departments that now control the flow of people and goods across the borders and through ports of entry. These include the SAPS, the SANDF, SARS and the Departments of Home Affairs, Health, Environment and Agriculture, which jointly enforce 58 Acts of Parliament. Under the proposed Bill, this would all fall under a single border-management authority. The Treasury and SARS have opposed the removal of the tax agency as being responsible for the collection of excise and customs duties, while the SAPS are concerned about how the new authority will affect its border protection function. The Bill was introduced to Parliament in May 2016, approved by the National Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs in March 2017 and adopted by the National Assembly in June 2017. The Bill, which has been languishing in the NCOP, was not finalised before the end of the fifth Parliament. It was revived by the current Parliament and is now being processed by the NCOP’s Select Committee on Security & Justice. The committee is scheduled to deal with it tomorrow, when it will be briefed by legal advisers on proposed amendments to the Bill.