The relentless heat is made more unbearable by the strong smell of dried fish hanging on the fence at the KwaPuza border post between northern KwaZulu-Natal and Mozambique.
A handful of soldiers and policemen on the South African side watch without interest from the shade as people move through a gap in the fence at ‘Gate Six†then cross the dirt road into no-man’s-land and move on to the informal market on the Mozambican side.
There, everything from game meat to R5-a-packet contraband cigarettes and cheap rotgut is on offer.
There is no customs and barely a hint of immigration control. The soldiers and policemen here admit their directive is to maintain public order — essentially ensuring that those swigging sour, warm ingemani (home-brewed palm wine) from R1,50 ’emayonaissi†jars do not get out of hand if they cross the border into South Africa.
Locals say the twice-weekly market at KwaPuza has been operating for years, and the authorities admit that it is a logistical nightmare to control as a formal border post and customs point.
Situated between the Kosi Bay border point near the coast and Muzi, 54km to the west on the edge of the Tembe Elephant Reserve, the market is accessible only by 4×4 or on foot. It is reflective of the porousness of the border and the virtually unhindered movement between the two countries.
Locals believe this helped to facilitate the recent spate of hijackings of tourist vehicles in the Kosi Bay area, which were apparently quickly driven off-road into Mozambique from South Africa.
Eight tourist vehicles – all luxury 4×4’s – have been hijacked in the Kosi Bay area since December 29. But locals say they have been at the mercy of gun-toting thugs for nearly two years.
In August last year, the front door of Welcome Ntuli’s house was broken down at midnight by three men armed with shotguns. His family was shepherded into a bedroom before the criminals made off with his wedding jewellery and his car.
‘They usually go for the bigger cars and 4x4s. Mine was a Toyota Verso, so maybe they took it to Mozambique through the border checkpoint,†said Ntuli.
While he was delivering goods at his neighbour’s house at six in the evening, Paulo Mduli’s double-cab 4×4 bakkie was hijacked by armed men. ‘The police arrived within ten minutes and followed the van. They saw it cross the border, but they couldn’t follow it into Mozambique,†Mdluli said.
KwaNgwanase police commissioner Ian Smith, whose force polices an area of about 2 400km2 inhabited by 250 000 people, estimates that there are now about four hijackings a month.
‘General crime is reasonably stable,†Smith said. ‘However, since 2005 armed robberies of vehicles have increased dramatically [compared to when] I first got here nine years ago.â€
He attributed the increase in hijackings to the September 2005 withdrawal of a South African Police Service anti-vehicle-smuggling unit, which had been based 50km inside Mozambique at Salamanga Bridge.
Operational since 2002, the unit recovered 134 stolen vehicles and arrested 122 people in its first few months of operation.
Smith said that while there was good co-operation between the South African defence force, the SAPS, frontier police and their Mozambican counterparts, a lack of resources meant stolen vehicles generally slipped through undetected.
‘The Mozambican police have no facilities to test vehicles or check registrations,†he explained.
And the criminals have become more audacious. A day before the Mail & Guardian visited the area, three construction trucks carrying gravel for a new road were hijacked a few kilometres from the Kosi Bay border post in the middle of the day.
One truck was later found stuck in sand where the hijackers had gone off-road, while the other two were retrieved inside the Mozambican border. No arrests were made.
The history of the area includes the arrival of thousands of refugees fleeing Mozambique’s independence war as well as the civil war between Frelimo and the South African-backed Renamo. Many Mozambicans have settled here and taken dual citizenship.
Like most of the community, Mhlabuyalingana municipal manager Eric Manqele believes that the perpetrators are Mozambican nationals or people with dual citizenship who employ local agents in the area.
‘If you have dual citizenship, you can move more freely between the border checkpoints, even with a stolen vehicle,†said Manqele.
He also feels the ease with which one can acquire South African citizenship and move on both sides of the border is helping criminals.
Inkosi Mabhudu Israel, head of the local traditional authority, said the border was an artificial one which had divided the large Tembe clan.
‘We have Tembes — brothers and relatives — who are living in Mozambique. I am the fourth inkosi on this side since the border was put into place; we have 12 amakhosi reigning on the other side,†Israel said.
He added that locals were increasingly exasperated by the lack of progress in combating violent crime and that they were debating vigilante justice.
‘It has reached the stage where the community feels that provincial and national government don’t care about them, only the tourists.
‘They feel that if they know a suspect, they would rather deal with them than hand them over to the police. The hijackers get bail too easily here. But it is something we want to stop because innocent people could be wrongly accused.â€
Israel cited the case of an alleged thief and his girlfriend who had to be hospitalised after they were accused of a mugging and attacked by residents.
Andrew Zaloumis, CEO of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park Authority, said the hijackings were having a negative effect on the economy of the area.
‘The Wetland Authority, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, private operators and the community have all worked hard to create a viable eco-tourism industry in one of South Africa’s poorest regions. These incidents, which are targeting both the community and tourists, have the potential to destroy this,†Zaloumis warned.