South Africa’s first line of border protection in the form of 15 companies of mostly infantry soldiers deployed along just on 4 500km of land border had a quieter February than January as far as putting the brakes on contraband and drug smuggling was concerned.
Statistics provided by the Joint Operations Division of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) and released by the Directorate Corporate Communication (DCC) show that contraband from four neighbouring countries (Mozambique, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Eswatini) valued at R295 485 was confiscated by soldiers deployed on the border protection tasking Operation Corona in February.
In January soldiers prevented contraband smugglers from Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe from bringing cigarettes, cosmetics, clothing footwear, liquor and pharmaceuticals valued at over R2.3 million into South Africa illegally.
Mozambicans, along with Batswana, were prevented from illegally importing drugs valued just short of R160 000 in February. Last month’s drug confiscations were substantially down on the R2.27 million recorded in January.
Two hundred and ninety-eight illegal immigrants or, to use government’s preferred terminology “undocumented persons”, were intercepted and handed to police and Department of Home Affairs (DHA) for processing and deportation in February. A hundred and eight Zimbabweans were the highest from any one country, followed by Mozambique (103), Lesotho (71) with Eswatini/Mozambique (into KwaZulu-Natal) (10) and Botswana (six) making up the total.
As has become the norm, landlocked Lesotho tops the boards when it comes to allowing livestock onto South African pastureland. The mountain kingdom’s border with Free State saw soldiers impound what Joint Operations terms “small cattle” to the value of R301 200. Against this “cattle” worth R80 000 from Mozambique were found to be illegally in South Africa.
Eight criminals were apprehended by soldiers and handed to police in February with an unknown number of vehicles valued at R653 488 prevented from illegally exiting South Africa.
The SANDF also reported R8 000 worth of weapons confiscated in February.
The Estimates of National Expenditure (ENEs), signed off by National Treasury Director-General Duncan Pieterse, ahead of Wednesday’s national budget presentation noted the department of defence “will continue to prioritise the acquisition of vehicles and advanced technologies that serve as a force multiplier to enhance border protection and prevent illegal activities”.
The ENEs stated that “border security remains a priority for the South African National Defence Force. Accordingly, over the [three year Medium Term Expenditure Framework] MTEF period, the department plans to continue to deploy 15 landward sub-units to patrol 4 471 km of South Africa’s land borders with Botswana, eSwatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
