SANDF on mission patrol at South Africa-Lesotho frontier to curb cross-border crimes

Platoon commander Lt Mmanti Manamela briefs the media on operational challenges in some of the problematic areas and personal sacrificies made by the troops in protecting the country's porous borders. (Photo: Nonkululeko Njilo)

By Nonkululeko Njilo

17 Dec 2023

Increased activity at the Lesotho-South Africa border posts during the festive season leads to an increase in smuggling and other crimes. Daily Maverick accompanied the SANDF to the Maseru and Ladybrand border posts to witness their cross-border security mission ‘Operation Corona’.

The daunting task of securing South Africa’s porous borders continues, despite serious underfunding and a lack of modern technology which the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has been grappling with for years.

The challenges and successes were evident during a recent media visit hosted by the SANDF to the Maseru border post which separates South Africa and Lesotho.

The visit gave a group of journalists a look at “Operation Corona”, aimed at curbing cross-border crimes.

South African National Defence Force soldiers on a night mobile patrol near the Maseru Border Post in Lesotho on 13 December 2023. (Photo: Nonkululeko Njilo)

SANDF troops deployed to patrol along the borderlines dividing South Africa and Lesotho. This is an effort to address border crimes near the Maseru and Ladybrand borders. (Photo: Nonkululeko Njilo)

During the operation, the troops conduct early morning and night patrols alongside the 485km border on foot and in vehicles.

Poor borderline infrastructure was visible during the media visit, including vandalised or non-existent border fences, patrol roads and access routes.

Journalists saw little or no movement in the areas that were patrolled. SANDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Peet Visagie said this was due to the visibility of the border patrols. He said that during the festive season, there was usually a surge in criminal activity at the border, particularly of Lesotho nationals illegally crossing into South Africa.

Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence has repeatedly expressed concern at the underfunding of the SANDF, which it said posed a risk to national security.

Platoon commander Lt Mmanti Manamela (left) and Lt Colonel Peet Visagie brief members of the media on operational successes during Operation Corona. (Photo: Nonkululeko Njilo)

In May, Lieutenant General SL Sangweni, the SANDF chief of joint operations, said the defence force required technology in the form of sensors and radars.

“For now, we work with the resources that we have,” said infantry officer Captain Botshelo Phutiyagae during the media visit. “Hopefully, in the near future … we will be able to get the technology that we can utilise in our borderlines. It will really enhance our capabilities.”

Phutiyagae said that criminal activities including livestock theft, illegal grazing and malicious damage to property (the cutting of border fencing) usually took place between 8pm and 4am and the most problematic areas were Clocolan, Ficksburg, Ladybrand, Boesmanskop and Wepener.

The border patrols’ successes during the past three months included the apprehension of 41 undocumented people, the confiscation of contraband goods and the recovery of stolen livestock worth more than R7-million.

The smuggling of people and goods across the border is another crime with which the patrols have to deal. People are smuggled across the Caledon River, often on inflatable mattresses, into South Africa — paying from R100 to R300.

About three months ago, the troops made an unusual discovery at the border — a solar panel placed high up in a tree. It emerged that a man had built a treehouse which he lived in for more than five years.

The soldiers apprehended him and handed him to the Border Management Authority. He was later deported. DM

Nonkululeko Njilo visited the border as part of a two-day media trip hosted by the SANDF.

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