Alarm raised on cross-border stock theft
2012-11-28 17:45
Pretoria - Cases of livestock theft across South Africa's borders are increasing, the SA National Defence Force said on Wednesday.
Chief joint operations officer Lieutenant Derrick Mgwebi was briefing the media in Pretoria on operations the army was involved in, internally and externally.
"If you look at the areas we must cover, in total of land border you are looking at 4471km²... You can then understand that we will never have a force to cover [that area] in terms of men on the ground," Mgwebi said.
He highlighted the defence force's successes in securing the country's borders.
The country was currently involved in operations as part of the United Nations peacekeeping forces in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Troops were also deployed in the Kruger National Park to combat rhino poaching.
- SAPA
