SECURITY THREAT AS BORDER FENCE FALLS

SANDLANE – It’s free for all along some borderlines as fences have fallen, allowing people to move freely between Swaziland and South Africa.

This, however, comes with a security threat to the country. 
Government has clearly stated that it has no funding to mend the fencing that cordons against both animals and people.
Some of these places have been without physical boundaries for over six months.

The cost of repairing and replacing the fence is estimated at above E100 million, according to Minister for Agriculture Moses Vilakati.
While the people are happy with the opportunity to move freely between the two countries, the army is having a headache trying to control this.

confirmed

Nkosinathi Dlamini, the Army Public Relations Officer, confirmed this and said some of the affected areas were in Shiselweni, Lubombo and around Sandlane.

“We have reported this a countless times to the relevant ministry but nothing has been done and the fencing has not been replaced.”
He added that the main cause of the fence falling off is wearing out, while other cases are those whereby smugglers cut them off for the purposes of driving away stolen cars or livestock.

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs Anthony Masilela said this did not affect them directly because his department dealt with immigration that takes place at official points like the border gates.

observe

“We only observe anything that is happening around the border gates and posts and other official entry points like the airports.”
The army clarified that it was not its responsibility to mend broken fences but theirs was to control smugglers and items around those areas.

Residents who live around Sandlane said their chiefdoms and member of parliament were aware about this.

opportunity

“We have held several meetings around it because we are also affected as thieves find it easier to steal cattle from this area and use the opportunity afforded by the broken fence to smuggle them into South Africa,” said a male resident.

He said the neighbouring communities have also been to the places to see what they could do to restore the situation but it transpired that there was nothing as most people claimed not to have money to contribute towards the purchase of fencing material.
“The area is just too wide and it requires a lot of fence rolls,” he said.

Agriculture Minister Moses Vilakati said his ministry is fully aware of the challenge.
“It is very unfortunate that we lack funding to finance the replacement of fencing along the borderlines.”
Vilakati said some of these areas have been without a physical boundary line for a long time now.

He mentioned affected areas to be around Sitsatsaweni, Tikhuba and Mhlambanyatsi among others.
The minister indicated that they have, on several occasions, filed a request for funding from government but it turned out that funding was insufficient.

He pointed out that the absence of fencing was not only a problem regarding smuggling, but it also posed threat to agriculture as livestock may stray in-between the countries and transmit diseases such as the foot-and-mouth disease in the process.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: