Travel agents may need to prepare clients for lengthy immigration queues when departing from and returning to South Africa, amid reports of understaffed counters and extended processing times at the country’s airports.
In a recent Tourism Update poll, 70% of respondents said their international clients were experiencing prolonged immigration queues at South African airports due to unstaffed counters.
Media reports have subsequently claimed that the Border Management Authority (BMA) is operating at just 25% capacity at OR Tambo International Airport, with some passengers reportedly facing processing delays of more than an hour.
Travel News approached the BMA to verify the reported staffing figure and respond to concerns but had not received comment by the time of publication.
Wayne Duvenage, CEO of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), said the problems pointed to shortcomings in the management of immigration operations.
“These immigration delays can only be seen as a leadership issue,” Duvenage told Travel News. He had previously raised concerns on LinkedIn about international visitors bearing the brunt of operational failures at immigration.
Duvenage explained that the personnel shortages and long queues at airport immigration were likely a result of inefficient staff shift rosters.
“I fear that whoever heads up the BMA team and immigration staff at OR Tambo is, firstly, not customer-centric and, secondly, is likely not planning shifts and staff resources properly.
“If indeed the BMA at OR Tambo is running well below the manpower capacity they require, the only people that should be held accountable is the management team, both at OR Tambo and the region.”
OUTA said that travel and tourism industry associations needed to collaborate with the BMA and ACSA to see interventions and actionable solutions put in place to reduce immigration delays.
