Durban - The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is patrolling hundreds of kilometres of the country’s borders on a shoestring budget, revealed Lieutenant-Colonel Tiger Johnson at a media briefing at the army’s Pongola base, which is on a shared border with Swaziland and Mozambique.
Johnson said there were numerous challenges the army faced.
“It is not always smooth flowing. The little we have is sufficient to do our job and protect South Africa,” he said.
The Daily News accompanied the SANDF this week on a border inspection aimed at highlighting various issues including the conditions under which SANDF members operate on a day-to-day basis.
The Daily News previously reported army chief Lieutenant-General Lindile Yam as saying they had to ensure that soldiers were properly equipped despite receiving little money from the National Treasury. He said this compromised the military’s ability to effectively control the country’s borders.
Johnson this week said 170 soldiers patrolled the 127km Mozambique border. At least two platoons of 40 soldiers conduct patrols. The same applied for the patrol of the 143km border South Africa shares with Swaziland.
The patrols are aimed at capturing human traffickers, recovering stolen vehicles and seizing drugs.
Johnson said they had confiscated goods worth more than R10 million since March. Some of these goods included stolen cars that were being taken to Mozambique and were worth an estimated R7m. He said dagga worth more than R1.2m had also been seized.
“People who wanted to come in and out of the country have become very clever - they monitor the activities of the SANDF to plan how they will conduct their illegal activities. This has resulted in our having to constantly change our movements and how we conduct our patrols on feet and in vehicles,” said Johnson.
He said people who entered South Africa illegally did so in the day and at night, which required constant vigilance, especially at hot spots like Pongola, Sililo and Mshololo.
A platoon at South Africa Defence Force Pongola base prepares to conduct patrols.
Picture: Motshwari Mofokeng/African News Agency (ANA)
Johnson said those places were also dagga smuggling hot spots and the smuggling of explosives was also a real possibility.
Despite these challenges, in 2017 the SANDF was able to buy new vehicles for border patrols. The vehicles have medical equipment and other safety measures which would help on their patrols.
The vehicles came at a time when there were complaints about South Africa having porous borders, with the Daily News earlier this year reporting that King Goodwill Zwelithini had voiced his disapproval.
“Where are the soldiers at these borders? That shows weakness in our country’s safety and security,” the king said.
He had said the stolen cars were often taken by heavily armed criminals.