BMA's urgent action against child smuggling highlights rising undocumented minors
BMA Commissioner Michael Masiapato addresses the media on the interception of a Mozambican smuggler attempting to transport a missing South African child, highlighting the alarming rise of undocumented minors at South African ports.
Image: Border Management Authority
THE South African Border Management Authority (BMA) has reported a significant interception involving a Mozambican national attempting to smuggle a missing South African child out of the country.
This incident highlights a concerning increase in the number of unaccompanied minors found at ports of entry during the recent festive season.
Commissioner and CEO of the BMA, Michael Masiapato, addressed the media during a joint briefing with Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber, discussing the successes of the 2025/2026 festive season operations on Friday.
Masiapato confirmed that a serious concern was the interception of a Mozambican national who attempted to smuggle a South African child to Mozambique at the Lebombo Port of Entry.
“It was later discovered that the child was reported missing in Johannesburg, and the suspect was immediately arrested and referred to the SAPS for further processing.”
The case, currently under investigation by the South African Police Service (SAPS), was opened at the Komatipoort police station. Masiapato stated that the BMA and SAPS are collaborating closely with the Department of Social Development (DSD) to manage the situation. Preliminary investigations suggest that the child is from Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni.
“The child had been understood to have been kidnapped. There was no indication that the individual was the parent of that child,” Masiapato stated.
While the BMA is not currently treating the incident as part of an organised syndicate.
“It was just some element of an individual kidnapping a child and having to get the child out of the country,” says Masiapato
The commissioner noted that this was not an isolated incident involving other minors. “There were a lot of others, but those other ones were confirmed to be Mozambicans. And obviously, up to this point, they were placed in a place of safety around the Komatipoort port area.”
He explained that the Mozambican social department had assisted in reuniting those children with their families.
"The South African child has to be brought back into the country, reconciled with the family, and of course, the case unfolds for that particular individual.”
Beyond the smuggling attempt, Commissioner Masiapato highlighted a broader issue of the rising number of unaccompanied minors intercepted around ports of entry. This alarming trend follows similar interceptions in December 2024, when BMA officers uncovered two incidents of alleged people smuggling at the Beitbridge and Lebombo border posts.
BMA border guards intercepted a minibus taxi at the Lebombo Port of Entry and arrested the driver for allegedly attempting to smuggle 14 undocumented children from Mozambique into South Africa.
The children were aged between four and 16. The driver was charged with aiding and abetting illegal entry, and the children were handed over to the Department of Social Development.
In a separate incident that same month, eight Bangladeshi nationals were intercepted by BMA border guards during routine patrols at the Beitbridge Port of Entry while allegedly attempting to enter the country illegally without valid travel documents.
In 2023, the commissioner said they had stopped more than 40 buses and over 400 children from moving through the border after parents had asked bus drivers to collect their children.
During the briefing, Masiapato reported that 53 unaccompanied minors were discovered and recorded at the Beitbridge Port of Entry alone in the recent festive season operations, indicating a major increase in undocumented children, some as young as three years old.
A particularly distressing discovery occurred on December 13, when “an 11-month-old baby was found abandoned at the border.”
Additionally, he said at the Lebombo Port of Entry, approximately 15 minors were intercepted attempting to illegally exit South Africa through the surrounding mountainous areas. “All these cases were referred to the Department of Social Development (DSD), and all minors were taken to the place of safety in line with the international and domestic legislative prescripts,” Masiapato said.
In response to the surge, the BMA and DSD held an urgent meeting with their Zimbabwean counterparts at the Zimbabwean Embassy to address the cross-border movement of undocumented minors and irregular migration.
The delegates agreed on a collaborative approach, including “collective awareness sessions targeting parents, the seamless referral pathways, and the joint screening of children for their successful uniting with the family members.”
He said a child must not be allowed to cross the border without identification. “If you allow your child, without papers, to go into a jurisdiction, you are possibly going to be taken on for issues of negligence and child abandonment (among others).”
Masiapato concluded by extending appreciation to the transport sector, noting that “the cooperation of the bus companies in avoiding the transportation of undocumented individuals is highly appreciated.”