As South Africa prepares to host the first G20 Leaders’ Summit on African soil, the nation’s border security is under scrutiny, with the newly established Border Management Authority (BMA) asserting its readiness for the global event. However, for residents and farmers along the 480-kilometer border with Lesotho, daily life is marred by persistent security failures that threaten their safety and livelihoods.
The challenges of securing the vast and rugged terrain were starkly highlighted earlier this year by a high-ranking South African National Defence Force (SANDF) officer. In a direct appeal to politicians, the officer linked national security directly to social and economic stability.
“I’m appealing to the politicians… think whether you are protected or not,” the officer stated. “That grant that you’re giving to the people out there, the education of your children and everything, will not materialize if you’re not protected.”
The officer pointed to the porous nature of the borders as a direct cause of shared social grants with “people who are not supposed to share the grounds.”
This porosity is acutely felt in border communities, where cross-border crime, particularly stock theft, has seen a sharp rise. According to the farmers’ advocacy group Free State Agriculture, the situation is dire. While there are eight official ports of entry between South Africa and Lesotho, the group has identified 64 illegal entry points.
A spokesperson for Free State Agriculture attributed the problem to a critical lack of infrastructure. “One of the main reasons is that there’s no accessible 4×4 border road in the whole of the border,” the spokesperson said. In some areas, the official border road is four to five kilometers from the actual border, while in the southern sector, “there’s no border road, nothing.”
This infrastructure deficit, the group argues, leads to “no operations, no high visibility of SANDF and SAPS.” All 13 farming communities along the Free State-Lesotho border have reported stock theft cases. The concern is not just the number of incidents but the scale, with farmers recently recovering 45 head of cattle that were being stolen into Lesotho.
The spokesperson further claimed that South Africa is being “invaded already by Lesotho,” citing a survey that estimated between 170,000 and 300,000 cattle from Lesotho are grazing illegally in the Free State. “Every town in the Free State… 88 of them are complaining,” the spokesperson said.
While the border is patrolled by the SANDF and the South African Police Service (SAPS), authorities acknowledge the immense difficulty of the task. A spokesperson pointed to the sheer length of the border—485 kilometers—as a fundamental constraint. “For obvious reasons, you can’t have at every kilometer a policeman or SANDF or BMA official deployed,” the spokesperson said, while expressing belief that Parliament would hear their concerns.
The BMA, a key part of border security efforts, is facing its own severe challenges. A BMA Regional Commander highlighted that the authority is “severely understaffed,” operating with just over 2,500 personnel against a national requirement of over 11,000—a 70% shortfall. This, he said, “creates a problem obviously for executing the mandate of the authority.” He did, however, note that the BMA has received R150 million to procure modern technology for future use.
Parliament has taken note following a recent visit to the Lesotho border, which revealed “severe capacity shortcomings, technological gaps and poor infrastructure.” A parliamentary spokesperson also raised concerns about foreign nationals crossing the porous border to access services meant for South Africans and engaging in subcontracting.
The visit also uncovered a complex issue of nationality. “We hear for the first time that there are US citizenships… we’re going to meet the Home Affairs… to find out how can a South African or Lesotho national be a South African national at the same time,” the parliamentary spokesperson said.
With joint safety operations deemed “not really successful” by farming communities, Free State Agriculture has recommended that the provincial government build a road along the border to facilitate patrols and consider erecting a border fence. As the spokesperson noted, currently, “there’s nothing that physically prevents anyone from crossing the border,” leaving the security and economy of the region in a precarious state.