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BMA border guard checks a motorist’s particulars at the border.
Border crime remains a concern for communities at the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe, whilst South Africans ready themselves for the State of the Nation Address (SONA) this week.
Some say the SONA must address the security situation at the border.
Residents and business people in Niani along the Limpopo river say criminals from neighbouring countries operate with impunity, stealing vehicles and livestock.
Kiran Medukonduri from Mulale, outside Musina, is one of the crime victims in the area. He explains how one of his vehicles got hijacked and taken to Zimbabwe in 2024.
“So I got down off my bakkie and I tried to open the gate. So the moment I turned back, I saw a guy pointing down at me, standing next to the bakkie. He was asking me for the keys. And then he started driving. There is another two guys again with firearms. So they took all my belongings, my laptop, my phone, everything. They dropped me there in the bush.”
Medukonduri adds, “they took off even my shoes, everything, so that I can’t even walk. Then I started walking towards the village, looking for the road. In the meantime, I find all the villagers, about 10, 20 bakkies. They were full of people. All the villagers started looking for me the moment they came to know from my guys that I’d been taken with the bakkie.”
Meanwhile, Phillemon Munyai from Niani business forum says they want the government to build a wall at the border.
“We plead the government to play their role for building the wall so that this crime of borderland will be ended into the past. We use our own resources. We use our own cars because if we fail to do that, these people, they will take advantage that this community, they don’t want to work with the police.”
Video | SONA | Border crime under focus as communities look to SONA for answers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5nTKu1HF8Y
