Commissioner Michael Masiapato: Announcement of successful bidders for the redevelopment of six land ports

The Minister of the Department of Home Affairs & Chairperson of Inter-Ministerial Committee on Border Management, Dr Leon Schreiber

The Deputy Minister of the Department of Home Affairs, Mr Njabulo Nzuza

The Acting Director-General of the Department of Home Affairs, Mr Hollamby

All stakeholders (both public & private) involved in this Public Private Partnership project

Members of the media and South Africa,

A very good afternoon to all of you for joining us here today.

Let me start by taking this opportunity to thank the Chairperson of the Inter-Ministerial Consultative Committee on Border Management, Dr Leon Schreiber for his resilience in providing the requisite strategic political leadership to the broader border management ecosystem. As the Border Management Authority moves to modernise the country’s border infrastructure through these projects, your continued leadership is critical in order to ensure our realisation of the world-class infrastructure that is responsive to the modern-day border management complexities. In addition, let me also express our gratitude to the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Njabulo Nzuza for his support to the work of the BMA, and for working in the background to ensure that we do our best towards the achievement of our set strategic objectives.

Today my assignment here is a very short one. The Programme Director, Dr Elijah Luvhengo and the Minister have just instructed me to announce the successful bidders who have been appointed to redesign and redevelop our six busiest land commercial ports of entry. Therefore, my task is made simple as the Minister has already outlined the criticality of these projects, their centrality towards the realisation of regional economic integration, their centrality towards the achievement of African Continental Free Trade Area, and their centrality towards the enhancement of intra-Africa trade.

Following the publication and the subsequent closure of the Request for Proposals in search of Public Private Partners for these projects in 2024, a fair, transparent, and competitive Supply Chain Management processes ensued during the course of 2025. To ensure process resilience, a multidisciplinary team was formed, made up of Ernest & Young (as a financial and lead transaction advisor on the process), working with Bowman (on the legal and public administration law advisory), together Knight Piesoltd (as the lead for technical and engineering advisory for the project). In addition, Bonakude Advisory was separately appointed as probity auditors to conduct live audits as the process unfolded to ensure the full observance of all critical governance protocols as expressed in the Public Financial Management Act.

In addition to the private sector teams, a group of experts were assembled from various government departments such as Home Affairs, Public Works, including entities such as the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), together with Infrastructure South Africa (ISA)- which manages the Infrastructure Fund. Following the assessment of the submitted bids, a comprehensive value for money report was submitted to the National Treasury for TAIIB approval as required by Regulation 16 of the National Treasury.

Negotiations with the preferred bidders on the Public Private Partnership agreements are at advanced stages and will be followed by the submission of the final value for money report and financial liability committee report to allow for TA III approval and the subsequent commercial close. Following the signing of the PPP agreements, the process will proceed to a financial close, after which, the preferred bidders would proceed to start the construction work. After all these rigorous processes, all the selected preferred bidders have been found to have complied with all the requirements as set out in the then published Request for Proposals, hence the decision to announce them today. But, before the announcement, let me indicate that the successful bidders are in the form of concessionaires and consortia which consist of various congregated companies which converged their diverse skills and competence to tackle the task at hand. Those concessionaires and consortia are the following:

• In terms of Beitbridge Port of Entry, which is located in the northern corridor to Zimbabwe in Limpopo province within the Musina Local Municipality; the preferred bidder is Baobab Concession. This Concessionaire is expected to do the construction work in a phased approach for an approximated period of about three years. The Baobab Concession is made up of Yakani Group, Wendra Infraco, Matla Integration, Tau Capital, Navigator Holding & Baobab Community Trust.
• In terms of Lebombo Port of Entry, which is located in the eastern corridor to Mozambique in Mpumalanga province within the Nkomazi Local Municipality; the preferred bidder is Raulux Consortium. This Consortium is expected to do the construction work in a phased approach for an approximated period of about three years. The Raulux Consortium is made up of Luxus Developments, Raubex, Exhantini Investments, Vulindlela Concessions, and Harith General Partners.
• In terms of Oshoek Port of Entry, which is located in the south-eastern corridor to eSwatini in Mpumalanga province within the Chief Albert Luthuli Local Municipality; the preferred bidder is Baobab Concession. This Concessionaire is expected to do the construction work in a phased approach for an approximated period of about two years. The Baobab Concession is made up of Yakani Group, Wendra Infraco, Matla Integration, Tau Capital, Navigator Holding & Baobab Community Trust.
• In terms of Maseru Bridge Port of Entry, which is located in the central corridor to Lesotho in the Free State province within the Mantsopa Local Municipality; the preferred bidder is Kgorong Consortium. This Consortium is expected to do the construction work in a phased approach for an approximated period of about two years. The Kgorong Consortium is made up of Motseng Concessions, IDEAS Infrastructure, Crowie Concessions, & Thebe SPV.
• In terms of Kopfontein Port of Entry, which is located in the western corridor to Botswana in the Northwest province within the Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipality; the preferred bidder is Kopfontein Consortium. This Consortium is expected to do the construction work in a phased approach for an approximated period of about two years. The Kopfontein Consortium is made up of Talis Property Fund, Unik Civil & Construction Engineers, and SSG Facilities, and last but not least,
• In terms of Ficksburg Bridge Port of Entry, which is located in the central corridor to Lesotho in the Free State province within the Setsoto Local Municipality; the preferred bidder is Imbani Consortium. This Consortium is expected to do the construction work in a phased approach for an approximated period of about two years. The Imbani Consortium is made up of Imbani Projects, Reaga Infra Border Holdings, M&M Capital and Russet Trading & Investments.

Minister and the DM, please allow me to congratulate these successful bidders in their appointment to this critical work of having to redesign and redevelopment our key land commercial ports of entry. Having engaged them and understanding their profiles, as the Border Management Authority we have full confidence in them that they will deliver on these key national infrastructure projects within our border environment. We are committed to work with them, and we hope to have a long, fulfilling, and mutually beneficial journey with them and we have no doubt that they will be hitting the ground running. At this point, we want to confirm that work is underway to finalise the application for the Budget For Infrastructure (BFI) to facilitate land acquisition and bulk services upgrades where necessary.

Based on the current projections, we anticipate that construction will begin later this year or early next year for some ports with phased rollout of the construction work for about two-to-three-year period. Although engagements have started over time, we just want to confirm that within the next few weeks, we will be amplifying our conversations with all critical stakeholders around the affected ports and that include engagements with communities, municipal leadership, traditional leaders, Business Chambers, freight associations, and cross-border traders to appreciate their pressure points before construction starts. To this end, both provincial and local authorities are urged to support these successful bidders and provide them with the necessary permits that are required for the activation of the construction work.

During the activation of these processes, requisite quarterly updates have been given to various structures. For instance, parliament has been updated through its relevant portfolio committees (DHA & DPWI), the Directors-General & Heads of Entities were updated through presentations in the Border Technical Committee, while the Ministers were updated through the Inter-Ministerial Consultative Committee on Border Management which is legally obligated to meet on a quarterly basis.

Lastly, our inter-Jurisdictional conversations with the affected five immediate neighbouring countries are at advanced stages. As for Zimbabwe (they have already concluded their construction work), Mozambique (they have recently appointed their construction company), Eswatini (their infrastructure is ready), as for Botswana and Lesotho (engagements are ongoing). All these infrastructure upgrades would allow us to implement the One-Stop Border Post (OSBP) through the implementation of the juxtaposed model of collocation, including the activation of smart borders with non-stop model for the movement of freight under the Authorised Economic Operators’ scheme. The OSBP Bill is being finalised by the National Council of Provinces and that would allow us to declare the port environment as the Common Control Zone (CCZ) for the easy implementation of inter-jurisdictional laws on border management.

In conclusion, it should be understood that the concessionaires and the Consortia raised their financial resources for these projects from commercial banks, and the government would only repay them through a Unitary Payment Model for the concession period in the build, operate and transfer arrangement. In fact, given the complexities and the vulnerabilities of the Supply Chain Management Process, this Public Private Partnership model is seen as a critical strategy to close the vulnerabilities and shun any opportunities for any corrupt tendencies.

Once again, congratulations to all the successful bidders and we wish you well as you begin this your meticulous journeys in upgrading the South African border environment.

I thank you!

Enquiries:
BMA Spokesperson
Mmemme Mogotsi
Cell: 072 856 4288
E-mail: mmemme.mogotsi@bma.gov.za

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