The lack of effective fencing on South African land borders contributes to easy access for, among others, farmers seeking good grazing, and livestock thieves.
On what is termed “illegal grazing”, the Joint Operations Division of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) said it is prevalent in areas where there is either no or damaged fencing. Additionally, where a river or watercourse is a national boundary, low water levels make it child’s play to enter and leave South Africa without documentation.
On its eastern border with landlocked Lesotho the Free State province faces what provincial leadership of the Democratic Alliance (DA) calls “a serious threat” from cross-border crime. According to Roy Jankielsohn, murder, arson, human and drug trafficking, vehicle theft syndicates as well as livestock theft and “theft of grazing” impact on communities in the Free State/Lesotho border area as well as farmers, their families and employees along the borderline.
“The lack of visible policing and ineffectiveness of interventions by the SANDF place Free State farmers at risk in terms of biosecurity and crime that impacts the livelihoods, local economies and jobs of Free State residents. Recovery rates of stolen livestock, vehicles and equipment are low and there is a lack of meaningful government interventions such as roads, policing and fencing along the border,” a statement has him saying.
In November soldiers deployed to the Free State/Lesotho border rounded up and impounded livestock (cattle, goats and sheep) valued at R2.9 million belonging to Basotho farmers found grazing on South African pastureland.
Jankielsohn maintains a multi-disciplinary team, with SA Police Service (SAPS) and SANDF representation as well as community policing forums (CPFs) and civil security associations and organisations in line with his party’s rural safety policy will be a positive in fighting cross-border crime. The DA policy makes provision for rural safety task teams similar to the one set up by Jabu Mbalula, MEC (Member of the Executive Council) for Community Safety, Roads and Transport.
That multi-disciplinary team operationalised on 10 September to combat illegal mining has, to date, notched up 9 665 arrests and 2 557 convictions for crimes ranging from murder, illegal mining, possession of gold-bearing material, illegal immigration and corruption to possession of stolen property.
