Tensions between residents and foreign nationals‚ stock theft and cross-border hijackings will come under the spotlight when President Jacob Zuma visits uMhlabuyalingana municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday.
The presidency confirmed that Zuma’s visit‚ conducted as part of the government’s intensified campaign against crime‚ comes after Zuma received complaints from residents living in municipalities bordering Swaziland and Mozambique.
He will conduct an inspection of the border‚ speak to local police and engage with communities living in uMkhanyakude‚ Hlabisa and Jozini.
The Sunday Times reported in December that cross-border corruption and bribery was rife in the area.
Jozini businessman Elijah Mavundla’s two cars were hijacked in October 2016 and it took him five months to recover his Mercedes-Benz C-Class and a Toyota Hilux double cab from Mozambique.
Eight robbers stormed his home‚ tied up his family and ransacked the house‚ taking cash‚ household goods and two cars.
He ended up travelling to Mozambique five times‚ first alone and then with South African police officials.
Mozambican police authorities bluntly refused to return the cars when he tracked them to a police yard at Tsalamela Bridge near Ponta do Ouro. He used Mozambican connections to locate the cars.
His cars had gone through the Kosi Bay/Farazela border post and he claimed that local authorities must have been paid to get the cars across.
Mavundla detailed his woes in a letter to Zuma.
“The police in Mozambique told me that they cannot give me my cars and I must come back home to fetch the documents for the cars and come with the police from South Africa‚” he wrote to Zuma.
He eventually paid R10 000 demanded by Mozambican police officials because his cars “had been sold”.
Zuma‚ who also recently visited Nyanga township in Cape Town and Soshanguve in Pretoria as part of the fight against crime‚ will be accompanied by KwaZulu-Natal premier Willies Mchunu. — TMG Digital/The Times
Zuma to tackle border crime in visit to northern KZN
Tensions between residents and foreign nationals‚ stock theft and cross-border hijackings will come under the spotlight when President Jacob Zuma visits uMhlabuyalingana municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday.
The presidency confirmed that Zuma’s visit‚ conducted as part of the government’s intensified campaign against crime‚ comes after Zuma received complaints from residents living in municipalities bordering Swaziland and Mozambique.
He will conduct an inspection of the border‚ speak to local police and engage with communities living in uMkhanyakude‚ Hlabisa and Jozini.
The Sunday Times reported in December that cross-border corruption and bribery was rife in the area.
Jozini businessman Elijah Mavundla’s two cars were hijacked in October 2016 and it took him five months to recover his Mercedes-Benz C-Class and a Toyota Hilux double cab from Mozambique.
Eight robbers stormed his home‚ tied up his family and ransacked the house‚ taking cash‚ household goods and two cars.
He ended up travelling to Mozambique five times‚ first alone and then with South African police officials.
Mozambican police authorities bluntly refused to return the cars when he tracked them to a police yard at Tsalamela Bridge near Ponta do Ouro. He used Mozambican connections to locate the cars.
His cars had gone through the Kosi Bay/Farazela border post and he claimed that local authorities must have been paid to get the cars across.
Mavundla detailed his woes in a letter to Zuma.
“The police in Mozambique told me that they cannot give me my cars and I must come back home to fetch the documents for the cars and come with the police from South Africa‚” he wrote to Zuma.
He eventually paid R10 000 demanded by Mozambican police officials because his cars “had been sold”.
Zuma‚ who also recently visited Nyanga township in Cape Town and Soshanguve in Pretoria as part of the fight against crime‚ will be accompanied by KwaZulu-Natal premier Willies Mchunu. — TMG Digital/The Times
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