Pretoria - Home Affairs Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, has joined the call by President Jacob Zuma, Madiba, the nation and the African continent to rally behind Bafana Bafana in their critical final Group A match against France this afternoon.
"Even though their task is daunting, we will continue to hoist the national flag in support of our national team and the hosting of the World Cup on our soil. Our thoughts and prayers will be with Bafana Bafana as they trot onto the field against France this afternoon," Minister Dlamini Zuma said.
All eyes will be on the boys in green and yellow when they take on France in Bloemfontein. Following a draw against Mexico and a loss to Uruguay, Bafana will need a convincing win with a tirade of goals, against former world champions France, if they are to stand any chance of progressing beyond the group stage of the tournament.
The team will hope that Uruguay do the same with Mexico too, as the latter two teams battle it our simultaneously at the Royal Bafokeng stadium. Both clashes will be at 16:00.
Speaking on Tuesday, the minister said from 1-13 June 2010, the total volume of travellers who entered the country stood at 456 423.
"As at 21 June 2010 an additional increase of 226 084 travellers have arrived. In total 682 507 foreign visitors have entered the country to date," the minister said.
During the same period, the top five nationalities entering the country were from the SADC states including Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland and Botswana.
This was followed by the United Kingdom, USA, Germany, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, France, Netherlands, Namibia and Argentina.
The minister said that government's Advance Passenger Processing (APP) has allowed the department to bar undesirable elements from entering South Africa before boarding from their various points of departure. In this regard, 40 of the 54 airlines flying to South Africa are now signed up to the APP.
During the same reporting period (1-21 June), 12 157 contraventions were identified at various air and land ports of entry, comprising individuals overstaying in terms of their entry conditions, over penalties for temporary residence permit abuses and occurrences where a passport was flagged as lost or stolen.
Also in the same period, 34 travellers were denied permission to board due to their travel documents being non-compliant with immigration requirements including visas, expired or fraudulent travel documents and being placed on the Visa and Entry Stop List.
Over and above everything that the department of home affairs is doing to meet Government's guarantees to FIFA, it has prioritised 34 air and land ports of entry including Oliver Tambo, Cape Town and King Shaka International Airports for daily monitoring, the provision of early warning signals and the implementation of contingency planning.
The minister said that through government's Movement Control System, entry was denied to a number of soccer hooligans particularly from Argentina and Great Britain who sought to enter the country over the past few weeks. In addition, the Movement Control System has also assisted the law enforcement agencies in apprehending some suspects who were on the wanted list for a variety of reasons.
"The Department is confident that the systems it has implemented, as part of the legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, will continue to make a major contribution towards combatting crime and corruption way beyond the tournament," the minster said.
