All about fighting smuggling on the Lesotho border

To illegally cross the South African border near Maseru in Lesotho costs as little as R300, according to South African nationals living in the area.

Smugglers are also alleged to be terrorising nearby communities, including farmers, by stealing livestock and crossing the animals between the two countries for illegal grazing.

According to residents, smugglers walk their clients through the river or use mattresses to cross them over if the river is full.

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To hold up the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), smugglers blockade roads with rocks and throw stones at them.

One of the residents in Riverside, Dineo Mphe, said most of the illegal activities happening in the area were stock theft and illegal crossings.

“Sometimes we get white people coming here to ask if we have seen their cows,” she said. “At times, you see the cows passing by but because you don’t see who they belong to and where they are going.

“You can’t stop them. You can’t ask who they belong to or where they are going because killing is rife.”

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She recalled one of the instances where a woman was held to ransom by smugglers, who demanded R300 after they helped her cross the border.

“We heard a woman crying and screaming near the river. We found her being held by smugglers,” she said.

“Initially, they agreed she should pay R100 but when they got her to the other side, they wanted R300.

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The woman didn’t have that money. I told her to give them whatever she had so that she could be safe.”

Most community members also expressed their gratitude for having SANDF personnel patrolling the area.

“We are happy when we see the soldiers around because we are living in danger. They protect us,” Mphe said.

Another resident, who is a headman but asked to remain anonymous, said it was true some headmen in the area were stealing cattle from their employers and selling them.

“It does happen a lot when there’s a disagreement between the headmen and the farmers over payment. The headmen would end up paying themselves by stealing the cows,” he said.

A soldier who patrols at the border, Vuyani Moloto, said it was likely that as it was the festive season, more illegal crossings would happen because there were a number of illegal Lesotho nationals going back home and illegal South Africans working in Lesotho returning home.

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Moloto said in some instances, people would cross the river with children without passports or any identification.

“Sometimes they come with children so that we can feel pity for them. You don’t even know if the people crossing are the parents of the children because they have no identification,” Moloto said.

“We take them and hand them over to the custom officials and then we call the social workers to deal with the case.”

He said depending on the smuggler, it varies how much they charge to help a person cross the border.

“When we arrest the person, they will tell us that they paid R250 or R300. We always tell them that the money that they paid should have been used for a passport,” he said.

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“They will usually tell us that they crossed illegally because passports took too long to process and they needed to go to South Africa because they have found a job there.”

He said the reason those who live near the border were happy to see soldiers when they patrol was that smugglers terrorise them when they cross over.

“The smugglers blame them for being the ones who expose their activities,” he said.

“The community does help us with good intel because they live near the river and these guys scare them off. Good communication is very important. That’s why they are happy when they see us.”