The Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs has thrown its weight behind the Border Management Authority’s (BMA) bid to receive more resources in funding its operations.
Addressing the media during Parliament’s weekly committee cluster media briefing on Tuesday, committee chairperson Mosa Chabane said there was a significant shift in managing ports of entry since the BMA came into being.
“There is a collective responsibility for all of us to make sure we assist the work of BMA,” Chabane said.
His comments came in the wake of the BMA grappling with a staggering R4.5 billion budget shortfall that threatened its operations over the next three years.
The repercussions are expected to affect critical areas such as human resources, technology investment, and essential equipment procurement.
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has previously indicated that the shortfall for the BMA over the medium-term expenditure framework period was R4.353 billion.
This was due to the entity not having received the full requested funding from the National Treasury.
Schreiber indicated that the transferring departments transferred an accurate budget for the compensation of employees and did not allocate a comprehensive budget for goods and services.
The BMA's approved organisational structure accommodates 11,115 positions, yet only 2,566 posts are filled, leaving 8,549 roles vacant as of the end of June.
Schreiber said within the MTEF period, the BMA would be required to fill 3,207 positions to ensure alignment with the total approved organogram.
“As per approved organisational structure, the area of focus for urgent capacitation is the ports of entry, including the critical support positions, which are critical for governance purposes.”
He also said there was a critical need for the BMA to invest in ICT infrastructure to enable efficient delivery of its mandate.
Schreiber had highlighted that R2.9 billion in funding for the fiscal year 2023-24 was declined by the National Treasury.
The BMA applied for R500m from the Criminal Assets Recovery Account from the Department of Constitutional Development to assist in the procurement of some critical tools of trade, but only R150 million was approved.
Schreiber said the requested funds were to be used for the procurement of specialised capital equipment.
Chabane said an oversight visit in 2020 to the Beitbridge identified fencing as a challenge.
He said the fencing on the borderline was dilapidated and required a lot of funding to enhance the strategic work of the BMA.
Both Schreiber and former minister Aaron Motsoaledi have raised the matter with the committee, he said.
Chabane warned that the mandate of the BMA was to be tampered with if there was not more funding, including staff complement and guards on the borderline.
He said the committee had advised the BMA to develop a business proposal and submit it to the National Treasury.
Chabane noted that the engagement between the department and BMA was ongoing.
“We can’t establish an institution like BMA as a result of the porous borders and we don’t fund it to completely run its function,” he said.
He was hopeful that the National Treasury would consider the request for additional funding by the BMA and other security cluster department in relation to the law enforcement work.