Home | News | TENSION AS FARMER OPENS ‘OWN BORDER GATE’

TENSION AS FARMER OPENS ‘OWN BORDER GATE’

21/11/2020 13:50:00 BY Timothy Simelane

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LUSHIKISHINI – Mending fences, literally. An opening in the border fence separating Eswatini and the neighbouring South Africa has escalated tension between a farmer and residents of Lushikishini, outside Mankayane Town.

At the height of the dispute are allegations by residents that the opening of a border can easily be used by perpetrators of cross border crimes to facilitate stock theft and other contraband.

So serious is the dispute that the South African National Defence Force, the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force and the Department of Home Affairs in SA have been asked to intervene.

Family

The Botha’s family is settled on a farm whose boundary is the border line on the SA side.

Meanwhile, on the Eswatini side, the farmer also has another farm which is close to the border line. The family’s last name is Botha and they employ a number of emaSwati and South Africans in these farms.

The Botha family told Eswatini News that they needed to be able to access both farms with ease, which explained the gate that is part of the border fence.

However, the dispute between the family and the residents has been brewing for years, as early this year, the residents said they asked the army to shutdown another gate that the family had been using for some years to attend to their two farms with ease. Their suspicion was that keeping the gate open could facilitate cross border crimes.

The Botha family denies that the gate was shutdown because it was considered an illegal route, but said this was part of the precautionary measures to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“How will I access my farm then,” Johan Botha asked Eswatini News during an interview.

The dispute reached boiling point last week, when residents said they saw an Eswatini registered Land Cruiser entering the gate into the SA farm and home of Botha fetching cattle from another bakkie there.

When Eswatini News initially visited the area on Monday, Botha’s wife Tharina, explained that the incident of the bulls had nothing to do with her family.

Botha did not deny that this happened, but said the owners of the cattle had lied to her family that they wanted to fetch a bull that had strayed from the Eswatini side into the SA side and intended to take it back.

Bulls

“We allowed them, but were surprised when suddenly there was an activity in which another car from the SA side brought four bulls. They loaded them into the Eswatini registered vehicle. They told us that a veterinary officer from Eswatini would clear the bulls, but we did not know they were just bull*****ng us,” Botha said.

Explaining how it all unfolded, Botha’s wife said: “The guy lied to my husband and to me. When they came here, he said he had to wait for a guy from Eswatini who is from the veterinary services. As far as I know, if you buy something from this side and take it to Eswatini it must first go through quarantine as a disease control measure. The veterinary services, after three months, can then certify that the cows can be released from the quarantine. But in this case, he said he was waiting for the veterinary assistant from Eswatini who would give him the green light. This means he must have allegedly bribed the guy from the veterinary services. I must have noticed that something was wrong at that time, but I did not think about it then.”

It was revealed that when the van from Eswatini eventually arrived, the cows were loaded into it and driven into the kingdom. Tharina divulged the name of the Eswatini person who fetched the bulls under the guise that he was from the veterinary services in Mankayane. The name may not be repeated for now as the matter is under active investigation. She insisted that her family must not be associated with the alleged exchange of the cattle because their farming activities are based on crop production and they do not rear any cattle.

Tractors

“On the other side is my farm as well and I grow tomatoes there. My tractors have to access it because we have to attend to the crop there. I’m not fine with this because the army closed my gate because of informal crossing. But every person that crosses the fence is a case of informal crossing, yet that does not bother them. There was a fire on my farm (on the Eswatini side) but the army did not help me with anything. I lost a lot of trees to the fire. I’m do not feeling well about this whole situation because they don’t care that this is my livelihood. I have to farm here,” Tharina said.

She said she suspected that this was the only case in South Africa where the border line crossed a farm, with one owner of property on either side of the fence. When asked about the cattle rustling issue, she said the veterinary services were the ones responsible for monitoring such.

She said the cattle from Eswatini were troubling her because of the poor maintenance of the fence.

Destruction

“Every year, they come in and cause destruction on my farm. I have to chase them away all the time. All I want to do is to farm because I have a loan at the bank that I have to pay,” she said.

Meanwhile yesterday, the South African Police Service (SAPS), the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and Home Affairs arrived at the farm after they had been alerted by the Mpumalanga Stock Theft Operation termed Wanya Tsotsi.

They were, however, informed that the owners of the farm were away, after which they took a decision to retreat and plan another meeting at a later stage in a neutral venue.

Meanwhile, on the Eswatini side, the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) and the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) also met with the community and agreed that yesterday’s meeting be adjourned pending the proposed meeting on the SA side.

UEDF Public Relations Officer Lieutenant Tengetile Khumalo said: “This is a delicate matter, as it touches on the unsettled and ongoing negotiations of demarcations, which are under other judicial forums.”

Chief Police Information and Communication Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said the issue of the cattle was under investigation.