Farmers asked to help with problems at Lesotho border

Free State Agriculture (FSA) urges farmers to pass on all information on problems and illegal activities at the border between South Africa and Lesotho, in order to combat crime better. This is according to Dr Jane Buys, Safety and Risk Analyst at FSA, and follows crime and farm attacks related to the border area.

According to her it is important that members of FSA and farmers follow the right communication channels, bring incidents to the attention of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and South African Police Service (SAPS) and pass on info to the safety coordinators in the relevant areas. All this to combat crime more effectively.

“There is a SANDF Ops number that they can contact 24 hours a day. It is available from the safety coordinator in the region,” says Buys. “Every 10 km, the SANDF has a temporary base that conducts operations and can be contacted for assistance in the event of a major problem in the border area.”

Buys says farmers are requested to pass on all border activities and information to the FSA VKB Safety Desk on Mondays. This is then provided to the SANDF, which helps plan cross-border operations with the SAPS.

“Most rural safety coordinators at the border have recently been given a vehicle and many of the cross-border activities constitute crimes that need to be brought to the attention of the SAPS.” According to her, the SAPS and safety coordinators should assist in launching, together with agricultural communities, crime prevention operations.

According to Buys farmers are also requested to follow up cases reported to the SAPS. Among other things, they need to make sure which case number was opened, when the SAPS was on the scene and which detective was on the scene. Problems with this need to be addressed with the rural safety coordinators, FSA’s Safety Desk and the relevant station commissioner. “If problems continue, it can be referred to FSA’s Safety Desk and the priority committee,” she says.