Borders a doorway for criminal activities
Any illegal activity you can think of, these syndicates are doing it.
TONGA – The borders adjoining the province have become a major doorway for criminal activities. British American Tobacco (BAT) estimates that fake smuggled cigarettes alone cost the country roughly
R5 billion annually in lost taxes.
Last Tuesday Lowvelder visited a spot on the border fence where men, women and children illegally crossed through an informal gate between South Africa and Swaziland, about four kilometres from the Mananga Border Post.
Bakkieloads of people were transported to the fence and another bakkie had awaited them on the Swaziland side.
A man going into Swaziland said there were no soldiers on the South African side. “I just have to give the Swazi soldiers my identity book and tell them how long I am staying and where I will be. Otherwise I just pay them,” he said.
One of the women crossing asked a police source accompanying the newspaper what they were doing. “This is how brazen the activity is,” he said.
Another opening in the fence about two kilometres away was large enough for vehicles to pass through.
Syndicates are believed to operate the illegal crossing of undocumented persons, counterfeit goods and hijacked vehicles, and conduct human trafficking through the fence. “We are getting reports that people are being held captive by the smugglers they paid to help them cross the borders and their families called to pay ransom before they get released,” the source said.
“Any illegal activity you can think of, these syndicates are doing it. It all falls under the same umbrella, so your human traffickers will be the same ones to smuggle drugs for example,” he said.
Bossies Community Justice’s Mr Albert Gryvenstein said a huge percentage of stolen vehicles moving through the area were headed for the border. “There are places near Mbuzini where the fence is non-existent.”
According to Gryvenstein, the SANDF rotates patrolling soldiers every couple of months. “Just as they start making progress in an area, the army moves them. The new soldiers must start over to find out what is going on.”
SANDF Capt Lwazi Malgas said the army will commence with a border-safety project along with security clusters, SAPS, Department of Home Affairs, correctional services, tribal authorities, the Mpumalanga department of community safety and Nkomazi Local Municipality to combat transnational crimes on May 12.
“We are concentrating on the Mozambique border due to the high volume of stolen vehicles and illicit goods that cross.” They were also building barricades – but could not disclose where exactly.
BAT South Africa communications manager, Ms Kanyisa Ndyondya, said organised criminal syndicates at the epicentre of the counterfeitcigarette trade used the proceeds to fund drug smuggling, human trafficking and terrorism.
“Border enforcement actions such as dog units and scanners that can detect tobacco have been implemented, but much more needs to be done, given the scale of the problem,” she said.
Read more : Lebombo border, highway of crime for the whole of Africa
