The Mozambican government has been outraged by the repeated attacks on cars with Mozambican national number plates. In the most recent incident, a group of criminals set six Mozambican nationals’ vehicles on fire, including a passenger bus carrying 35 people headed for Durban.
The attack happened just after traveling 90 kilometers from the Ponta de Ouro border crossing between the two nations. Fatalities and injuries have not been reported, and the victims were taken back to the border after being rescued by the South African authorities.
According to Veronica Macamo, minister of foreign affairs and cooperation for Mozambique, the increase in attacks on Mozambicans in South Africa is alarming. She claims that her government is unable to explain the occurrence and has asked South Africa for an answer.
Foreigners continue to live in fear.
Foreign nationals in Durban and other South African cities are living in fear as they continue to be attacked by local organizations that accuse them of stealing employment and entering the country illegally.
Commentators are of the view that people in power are encouraging concerted attacks against foreigners from neighboring African nations. They argue that South Africa has a sizable law enforcement presence. Giving a group of people the opportunity and the freedom to behave as they choose shows that there are those in the government who agree with them.
The South African administration is under pressure from the country’s citizens to deport all refugees and migrants. They are systematically attempting to drive away immigrants. However, due to international decorum, they are embarrassed to publicly say it.
The silence of the South African government has led to the spreading of Operation Dudula across the country. According to Dudula’s leadership, their organization was founded by community members who were angry about the state of the nation, in particular the destruction of infrastructure, drug use and trafficking, human trafficking, illegal encroachment on property, and other forms of crime.
The group leadership stated that the influx of immigrants across the unregulated borders contributed to the spike in crime and unemployment. The organization’s main goal is to remind the government of the immigration rules and how the country’s current situation does not fully abide by them.
Car smuggling between SA and Mozambique
The attack on Mozambican cars has been attributed to growing car theft and smuggling from South Africa to Mozambique. In the past three months, the persistent car smuggling incidents on the Mpumalanga border with Mozambique have resulted in the recovery of 36 vehicles and the arrest of 22 people. The people of Mbuzini are currently living in fear. They claim that vehicles are smuggled past the border fence between South Africa and Mozambique in broad daylight.
These cars, which are normally headed toward Mozambique and other countries, are seized by law enforcement. The cars are being stolen or hijacked in various locations across the nation, and locals in Mbuzini now believe that the smugglers are collaborating with certain local residents.
Local collaborators in Mbuzini know the roads to use to smuggle the cars; they are the ones that show these smugglers which roads to use to get through to Mozambique. However, what is surprising is that no one is detained by the police for questioning or anything.
The Community Policing Forum in Mbuzini is pleading with all interested parties to get involved. They encouraged local people to work with the police and SANDF to fight this crime. Border guards have also been deployed; however, car smuggling has increased.
