THE ARRIVAL in SA in July of 11 customs officers - seconded from the British Customs - has been to great advantage, according to Piet Liebenberg, chief executive of the SARS (SA Revenue Service) - into which SA Customs now slots.
So successful have they been in field-operations, and hands-on training, at the Port of Durban and Johannesburg International Airport (JIA), that their contracts have been extended to next July- and further staff numbers requested from the British authorities.
Liebenberg suggested that their achievements at these two centres had begun to push criminal activities to other centres - like Cape Town. So, the smart move, he opined, is to hound them further by appointing the new officers to that city - and then to follow on with Port Elizabeth.
It certainly makes sense to follow the criminals along the path, said Edward Little, recently-appointed executive director of SAAFF (SA Association of Freight Forwarders). It will eventually pin a lot of them to the wall - and, at the same time, leave teams of newly-trained staff in its wake.
