The Umhlabuyalingana Society Against Crime (USAC) – launched at the beginning of the year – has seen cross-border crime between South Africa and Mozambique drop by 65%.
It’s a combined initiative between the community, the national and provincial governments of South Africa and Mozambique respectively as well as the South African Police Service (SAPS) and follows a request by the small KwaZulu Natal town of Umhlabuyalingana – located just below the Ponto D’ouro border – to president Jacob Zuma to intervene because of the high incidence of vehicle hijacking and other crimes.
“The vehicles are hijacked locally and disappear across the border where it’s impossible to track them,” said USAC chairperson Juda Mthethwa.
“But since we launched the anti-crime initiative, we are noticing changes. Police visibility has increased; there are more police vehicles on the streets and there is an increase in visibility by members of the South African Defence Force,” he said.
Mthethwa added that police patrols and road blocks were now a common sight but vehicle hijackers who slipped across the borders had yet to be apprehended.
“We want to appeal to authorities in both South Africa and Mozambique to do something about this,” Mthethwa said.
Zuma is set to visit the town on Thursday to check on progress.
