The suspect is expected to appear at the Waterval Boven Periodical Court today.
More than 500 Zimbabweans may be in trouble after their fellow countryman was arrested and allegedly found in possession of passports and money.
A multidisciplinary team, comprising the Middelburg Flying Squad, Nkangala District Anti-Hijacking Team, and Waterval Boven Saps, arrested a 43-year-old Zimbabwean man who was allegedly found with a vast number of passports and a large sum of cash.
The arrest resulted from information the police received on Monday at around 1 pm about a white Chevrolet Utility bakkie with a canopy. The vehicle had Gauteng registration number plates.
The team located the vehicle, and a search was conducted.
They found 582 passports, some of which contained cash hidden in a compartment. A separate cash amount of about R20 000, wrapped in a black plastic bag, was also found.
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“Investigation thus far suggests that the driver was probably going to meet someone the next day to have the passports stamped. Police are of the view that the recovered cash was meant for payment,” said the Saps on Wednesday.
The suspect was charged with contravening the Immigration Act of South Africa, fraud, and money laundering.
The total amount of cash in the suspect’s possession was R147 300. The bakkie driven by the suspect was also confiscated for further investigation.
The suspect is expected to appear at the Waterval Boven Periodical Court today.
Festive season travel
On Sunday, Border Management Authority (BMA) commissioner Michael Masiapato said illegal entry into South Africa remained a major issue for authorities.
“Historically, the December and January festive periods remain characterised by a significant increase in traveller volume. This always places significant pressure on our ports of entry,” said Masiapato.
“South Africa continues to confront a range of complex border-related challenges. These include illegal migration, increasingly sophisticated cross-border criminal activities, as well as the smuggling of illicit goods.
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“These challenges place a significant strain on our already limited resources, hinder economic growth, and undermine efforts toward deeper regional economic integration.”
Masiapato launched the BMA’s festive season plan on Sunday. He said that about 8 135 arrests were made across the various ports of entry between July 2025 and September 2025.
Of these, 4 092 were undocumented foreigners, 2 061 were inadmissible and 1 982 were undesirables.
“As is always the case, the majority of the intercepted foreign nationals were Basotho, followed by Mozambicans, Zimbabweans and Swati nationals, reflecting a consistent long-standing migration pattern within the sub-region,” said Masipato.
Valid passports
BMA data shows that over the past two festive seasons, the country’s cross-border movement has remained dominated by foreign travellers.
“In 2023-24 festive period, out of about 5 million processed travellers, 78% were foreign nationals, while 22% were South Africans. During the 2024-25 festive period, of the 4.5 million travellers processed, 70% were foreign nationals and 30% were South Africans.”
From today, the BMA will intensify its measures to detect and seize narcotics, illicit goods, and stolen vehicles at the country’s ports of entry.
“We therefore want to warn all travellers to desist from committing any act of criminality around the ports or even in the border law enforcement areas, as they will be detected and arrested.
“Our immigration teams would like to remind all travellers entering or departing South Africa that they should be in possession of a valid machine-readable passport containing at least two completely unused pages, excluding the last page, which must always remain blank.”
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