DA: Border security ineffective

2009-07-20 21:04

Bloemfontein - Security along South Africa's border with Lesotho is ineffective and citizens are forced to look after the safety of their own communities, the Democratic Alliance said on Monday.

DA shadow minister of defence and military veterans, David Maynier and his deputy James Lorimer visited the border near Golden Gate, Clarens and Fouriesburg in the eastern Free State on Sunday.

Maynier said the border was wide open, making residents in the areas vulnerable to transnational crime, especially stock theft.

"We found that the borderline fence does not, for all practical purposes exist, with large parts of the fence and many fence poles having been stolen," he said in a statement.

No fence

Clarens farmer Brad Goldblatt said for the past 10 years there had not been a fence on the border near Beginsel.

"There is no border. It's in disrepair and nobody does any maintenance."

He said it also seemed that nobody knew who was responsible for the maintenance of the fence.

Goldblatt said the local community worked closely with border police units on cross border crime.

"With the situation regarding the fence we have no choice."

Maynier said the situation was worsened because there were too few border police.

"The police stock theft unit is also ineffective, the unit has three police officers with 13 vacant posts."

Not just Lesotho border

He said residents' associations were therefore forced to spend hundreds of thousands of rands each year on security.

The situation was not restricted to the Lesotho border.

"South Africa's 4 862km landward border is protected by just 684 police officers, which is the equivalent of deploying approximately one police officer every seven kilometres of landward border," said Maynier.

The DA wants the South African National Defence Force to be in charge of protecting the country's borders again.
 

- SAPA