/ 16 August 2004

DA warns of ‘border crisis’

The killing of a South African soldier on the Lesotho border with the Free State emphasises the crime crisis along the country’s borders, the Democratic Alliance said on Monday.

DA spokesperson Roy Jankielsohn said the government should seriously look at the situation along the Lesotho border.

”In the eastern Free State, farmers and their workers are usually victims of crimes like stock theft,” Jankielsohn said.

Free State agriculture spokesperson of security Kobus Breytenbach said on Monday the killing on Friday shows that criminals have no respect for security personnel.

He said more security personnel are needed along the Lesotho border.

”There are security members deployed along the border but they are too few and cannot handle the whole border situation,” said Breytenbach.

South African National Defence Force member Captain Andrew Webb (25) was killed in a shoot-out during an operation along the Lesotho border.

Free State police spokesperson Inspector Loraine Kalp said Webb was wounded in the chest after a man opened fire on a patrol near Fouriesburg.

He was participating in Operation CIFAT II:2004, a regional initiative to combat the flow of illicit firearms across Southern African Development Community borders.

His killer, driving a red Volkswagen Golf GTI, remains at large. — Sapa