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Operationalisation

ESTABLISHMENT

OPERATIONALISATION OF THE BMA

The enactment of the BMA Act, 2020 enabled the President to appoint the Commissioner and two Deputy Commissioners, one for Operations and the other for Corporate Services in November and December 2021 respectively. Since then, the BMA leadership remain hard at work to establish the BMA as a Schedule A (3) Public Entity.

In order to achieve this objective, the BMA leadership developed and obtained approval for a transitional organizational structure during the BMA’s incubation under the Department of Home Affairs as special Branch from the 1st of April 2022 to the 31st of March 2023. 

As such, special funding was received from National Treasury for 

 

financing the capacitation of the Authority with key portfolios such as human resources, financial, risk and broader corporate support of which the process is underway.

Further, the financing enabled the advertising, and the selection of the first cohort of 200 Border Guards of which their appointment process is underway with the intention of launching them on the second week of July 2022. In addition, the appointment of critical oversight committee members for risk, audit and remuneration would be finalized in the third quarter of the current financial year.

In July 2021, Chapter 8 of the Act came into effect which provides for the establishment

In July 2021, Chapter 8 of the Act came into effect which provides for the establishment of the BMA Inter-Ministerial Consultative Committee (IMCC); Border Technical Committee (BTC); Advisory Committees and the finalization of Implementation Protocols with the South African Police Service (SAPS); Defence Force and the South African Revenue Service (SARS).

The IMCC and BTC have been established and several meetings have been convened by each Committee whilst the Implementation Protocols with SARS and the Defence Force have been finalised. Considering that the BMA will be responsible for the implementation of border law enforcement functions, the transfer of such functions from

relevant members of Cabinet to the Minister of Home Affairs, will be guided by the provisions of section 97 of the South African Constitution of 1996 which empowers the President to transfer functions from one Cabinet minister to the other after concurrence is received from the originating Minister. In thi scase, concurrence letters have been received from the Ministers of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development; Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment; and Health authorizing the transfer of border law enforcement functions from their respective departments to the Minister of Home Affairs. Further, the Minister of Home Affairs has delegated frontline immigration functions to the BMA.

THE TRANSFER OF BORDER LAW ENFORCEMENT FUNCTIONS

The transfer of border law enforcement functions from the relevant Departments to the BMA will be followed by the transfer of personnel, their relevant budgets, assets and liabilities. To this end, an integrated change management programme has been developed to engage with staff and facilitate the transition with the close participation of labour in the process.

Further, preparations for the transfer of personnel, budgets, assets and liabilities from affected Departments to the BMA by 1 April 2023 are being undertaken in accordance with the National Marco-Organisation of Government (NMOG) Guidelines as prescribed by the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA).

In this regard, the following issue-specific work streams, comprising of representatives from the affected Departments, have been established to prepare for the transfers:

  • Human resource management, organisational design, labour relations and change management
  • Infrastructure
  • Finance
  • Information and communication technology
  • Legal
  • Communications