KOMATIPOORT – The police have had their hands full in the first 10 days of 2017, with a total of 110 undocumented people stopped by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) at the border post and handed to SAPS and the Department of Home Affairs officials for further processing.

As a result, holding cells in police stations near the Mozambique border, such as Komatipoort, are overcrowded, largely due to illegal immigrants.

According to Lt Col Piet Paxton, staff officer of operational communication of SANDF’s Joint Operations, these figures are expected to drastically increase, and the holding conditions to worsen when more migrant workers cross the border next week.

He confirmed that on Monday there was not sufficient capacity at SAPS Komatipoort holding cells to keep the illegal immigrants, and some had to be processed at Matsulu Police Station.

“It is our responsibility to apprehend the undocumented persons,” Paxton explained. “We can’t arrest them. We give them over to the police in a good and healthy condition and obtain a SAPS reference number for every person.”

He related past incidents where those handed over were released to return over the border within two hours after they were left at the police station due to the capacity problem at the cells.

He particularly remarked on an undocumented woman with a baby on her back, trying to cross back into South Africa within hours of being released.

“We can’t just hand them over and leave,” Paxton said. “We have to see to it that these persons are taken to a station where there is capacity to hold them.”

The Mpumalanga police say capacity is usually a problem at this time of year. “We had to start utilising holding cells at police stations near Komatipoort,” spokesman Sgt Gerald Sedibe said.

“There are other stations such as Matsulu, Tonga and Schoemanskloof, where we can keep these undocumented persons until they can be handed over to home affairs officials for court cases.”

He added that space was kept in all the holding cells for any criminals of serious crimes. Illegal immigrants’ internment in the holding cells can last up to two weeks.

The body of a man was found in the veld near Lebombo Border Post on Sunday by members of the SANDF (First City) who are deployed on border safeguarding duties.

The members were on a routine patrol when they came across the body lying in long grass. The defence force handed the scene over to SAPS. The identification process is underway and a post-mortem to determine the cause of death is being conducted.

Sedibe confirmed police were investigating the death.

The SANDF will be increasing its patrols and operations in the area in expectation of the increased influx of undocumented persons who enter South Africa at this time of year in search of work and better living conditions.

The smuggling of stolen vehicles through the border into Mozambique is also rife.

Vehicles stolen from all over South Africa are driven up to the Lebombo border and then attempts are made to drive the vehicles, often at high speed and recklessly, past the SANDF patrols on the border line into Mozambique.

There is a large demand for upmarket SUVs, bakkies, as well as trucks in that country, with buyers prepared to pay large sums of cash.

Paxton confirmed that a Dyna truck valued at R380 000 was recovered in a joint operation between the SANDF, SAPS, Tracker and members of the Mozambique border police over the weekend.

The vehicle had crossed the border fence into Mozambique and got stuck in muddy conditions. The force requested Mozambique border police assistance as their jurisdiction ends at the border. The vehicle was then jointly recovered by the various departments and taken to the nearest Mozambique-border police station for verification. The vehicle was later repatriated to South Africa, and the SAPS confirmed that the vehicle had been reported stolen in Pretoria West.

No arrests were made. Over the entire weekend, smuggled items with an estimated value of R30 000 were confiscated from illegal immigrants and handed to the police.

These goods included contraband pharmaceutical products and counterfeit branded clothing. The SANDF border patrols regularly confiscate bags of counterfeit clothing intended for sale within South Africa by the undocumented persons as means of making a living.

At the time of going to press, SARS had not responded to the newspaper’s request to obtain exact figures.