Description

Entire Mozambique-SA border region from Lebombo mountains to Komatiepoort under control of uniformed war-lord gang http://bit.ly/roLhIB
source: Christopher de Wet , who writes that the sonamed "Kaftan barrier border fence" between South Africa and Mozambique has been practically destroyed, has not been maintained for 18 months - and that there are no apparent SA government border patrols.
POPULAR SMUGGLING ROUTE FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN, FAR-EAST AND REST OF AFRICA: This is the most popular smuggling route for illegal people from countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and far-eastern regions to infiltrate into South Africa.
The gang preys on these illegal aliens - which are kidnapped and held for days, weeks or even months in the Lebombo mountains until ransom is paid.
Amongst the gang-members are Somalis, South Africans and Mozambiquans.
1 November 2011 - Nelspruit/Komatipoort: "There is no longer any border and we have lost control of our own farms."
This is the opinion of one of the farmers on the ridge of the Lebombo Mountains, on the increasing number of farm attacks and theft by a group of 'bandits' who dress in SANDF-uniforms and call themthemselves the Ninjas - after their terror-habit of decapitating their victims.
The farmer, who owns the property on which a Mozambican woman was gangraped for more than 10 hours by five of the Ninjas for more than 10 hours, told Lowvelder:
In recent months he had encountered the terror-group on several occasions -- and before confronting them they fled back into the mountains.
He said his property was an easy target for them, being the shortest route from the holes in the border fence to the freedom of Managa Road in South Africa from where illegal immigrants get lifts to any destination inland.
Lowvelder’s investigation into the maintenance of the border fence, as well as the Kaftan barrier, revealed that there has been no official maintenance for the past two and a half years.
The investigation also revealed that the (highly-praised) Kaftan barrier, one kilometre on either side of the Lebombo Border Post, had been completely taken down, stripped and removed, leaving the entire stretch of border unprotected. This barrier-fence should cover a distance of 62 kilometres, from the Lebombo post to the Swaziland border post at Manzini.
According to an informed source, Grinaker LTA was awarded the contract in 1994 to put up and do total maintenance of the fence, and subsequently subcontracted a local company to take care of the maintenance on its behalf.
"When the border police took over the duties from the South African National Defence Force in 2009, the contract to maintain the fence was stopped and we were told that such maintenance wasn’t necessary. "Since then no maintenance or weed control has been done," said the source, who added that the initial contract to put up the barrier fence amounted to close on R30 million, with R5 million to R10 million required annually for complete maintenance of the fence.
"Within six months after the border police took over the responsibilities on the border, a 30 kilometres stretch of 3.3 kilovolt cable was stolen, meaning that half of the substations along the fence were without power."
According to the source, a tender for weed control was awarded to a close friend of one of the Macadamia Army Support base’s high-ranking officials of Thoyandou. "This man cleaned up only about three kilometres before disappearing with the rest of the money that he was paid," said the source.
According to another source from one of the local residence organisations, various meetings with both the border police and officials of SANDF, have yielded no success. "We are frustrated. For the past year the defence force has been promising changes, but nothing has happened. We feel that if the border-fence problem was eradicated, it would result in a decline of 50 per cent in South Africa’s violent crime rate, as most of the cash-in-transit heists, armed robberies and cases of rape and murder, are linked to Mozambicans and weapons smuggled across the border," said the source.
Lowvelder has requested comment from the National Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport, on the matter of the border fence, when the last tender on maintenance was issued and who currently holds the tender, the cost of the contract, the timeframe and the contractual regulations.
http://bit.ly/roLhIB
http://www.looklocal.co.za/looklocal/content/en/lowveld/lowveld-news-general?oid=4822398&sn=Detail&pid=490165&No-border-fence-leads-to-fear