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Agricultural role players meet with MEC to discuss illegal influxes from Lesotho

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The Free State MEC for Police, Roads and Transport, Mr Sam Mashinini, will meet with various role players from Lesotho and South Africa on 28 April to discuss the illegal influx of Lesotho citizens into the Klaarwater area on specific routes and farms from Lesotho. Role players including the SANDF, SAPS, local farming communities and peers from Lesotho will meet during the cross-border meeting in Zastron.

“The illegal influx has been going on almost daily for the past decade and has not decreased at all during the lockdown period.” says Francois Wilken, president of Free State Agriculture (FSA).

Several written requests have been made to law enforcers, the office of the MEC, the SANDF, the SAPS and various forums to actively address the problem, but do not deliver the desired results. “The illegal entry of Lesotho citizens is definitely related to increasing crime activities in the area that seriously impede the safety of farming communities and towns adjacent to the RSA / Lesotho border,” Wilken added.

In addition to Wilken, a delegation from FSA’s Rural Safety Committee as well as leading farmers in the Zastron area will attend the meeting to express their dissatisfaction with the state of affairs and to make written requests for urgent government intervention.

Free State Agriculture expresses the hope that a permanent solution will be found in order to address these and similar problems on the border.