Border between South Africa and Swaziland

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The border between South Africa (green) and Eswatini (orange) is 430 kilometers long

The border between the Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Eswatini (until 2018 Swaziland) is about 430 kilometers long and runs in one section. It begins in the north in the Lebombo Mountains at the triangle with Mozambique, northeast of Namaacha and ends at the edge of the Maputo plain in the foothills of the Lebombo Mountains again at the Mozambican border.

geography

Borderline

Eswatini topography with borders with Mozambique and South Africa

In the north of Eswatini, the common border begins at Mpundweni Beacon , a point on the triangle with Mozambique. From here the border line initially takes a south-westerly direction and after a few kilometers swings in a north-westerly direction, crossing the Komati valley . It now extends in a straight line through sparsely populated land to Lake Matsamo (Driekoppies Dam), the upper section of which it crosses. To the northwest of the Jeppe's Reef border crossing, the border turns to the southwest and passes through the mountainous region around Barberton . On the South African side lies the Songimvelo Game Reserve and in Eswatin the Malolotja Nature Reserve in the transnational Songimvelo-Malolotja Transfrontier Conservation Area , with the upper reaches of the Komati crossing the border here.

After the international border crossing at Oshoek, where Eswatini's only highway leads inland, the border continues to the southwest and swings to the south near the Lusutfulaufes . It maintains this direction up to a point north of the South African city of Piet Retief . It now follows a few twists and turns in a south-easterly direction and comes very close to the N2 at the small South African town of Berbice . Now it follows the course of this trunk road almost parallel to it and turns further and further east over a longer distance. In the vicinity of the international Golela border crossing , the border follows a straight alignment and further east it crosses the northern section of the Pongolapoort reservoir . A few kilometers later the border bends sharply at right angles at a marking and runs north until it meets the Lusutfu again. It now follows this course of the river eastwards to the border triangle with Mozambique.

Transport links

Most of the border stations between South Africa, its neighboring provinces Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal , and Eswatini are on regional roads. The most important border crossing connects the approach leading from the metropolitan Johannesburg national road N17 with the highway-like developed MR3 , which was also the eswatinische capital Mbabane is.

Eswatini Railways maintains a route that enables cross-border rail traffic with the Republic of South Africa in the north (Mananga border station) and south (Golela border station) of the country . It is part of the route between Komatipoort and Durban . A section of the route to Maputo in Mozambique branches off from here.

To the north of the Nerston / Sandlane border post, the new Swazilink railway line will in future run from South Africa across the border to Sidvokodvo in Eswatini and, using the Golela border crossing, again on South African territory to the Richards Bay port .

Border crossings

Jeppe's Reef Border Post

There are 11 official border crossings between the two states, which concern trunk and regional roads as well as a railway line.

South Africa Eswatini Remarks Coordinates
Street Border station Street Border station
R571 Mananga Border Post MR5 Mananga 07.00–18.00, Durban - Komatipoort railway crossing 25 ° 55 '59.2 "  S , 31 ° 45' 40.7"  O
R570 Jeppe's Reef Border Post MR1 Matsamo open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. 25 ° 45 '2.5 "  S , 31 ° 28" 3.4 "  O
R40 Josefsdal Border Post MR20 Bulembu open 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. 25 ° 56 ′ 40.6 ″  S , 31 ° 7 ′ 17.4 ″  E
N17 Oshoek Border Post MR3 Ngwenya open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. 26 ° 12 ′ 45 ″  S , 30 ° 59 ′ 21.1 ″  E
  Waverley Border Post   Lundzi open 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. 26 ° 19 ′ 39 ″  S , 30 ° 53 ′ 18.6 ″  E
R65 Nerston Border Post MR19 Sand lane open 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. 26 ° 34 '10.9 "  S , 30 ° 47' 30.5"  E
  Emahlathini Border Post (Houtkop) MR4 Sicunusa open 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. 26 ° 51 '37.8 "  S , 30 ° 54' 30.2"  E
  Bothashoop Border Post   Gege open 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. 26 ° 58 ′ 25.3 "  S , 30 ° 58 ′ 6.2"  E
R543 Mahamba Border Post MR9 Mahamba open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. 27 ° 6 ′ 19.8 ″  S , 31 ° 4 ′ 8.8 ″  E
  Onverwacht Border Post MR21 Salitje open 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. 27 ° 18 ′ 58.3 "  S , 31 ° 38 ′ 37.7"  E
  Golela Border Post MR8 Lavumisa Open 07.00–22.00, Durban – Komatipoort railway crossing 27 ° 19 ′ 1.9 ″  S , 31 ° 53 ′ 18.2 ″  E

history

A significant change in the border almost came around 1986, when King Mswati III. called for the areas of the homeland KaNgwane and parts (Ingwavuma) of the homeland KwaZulu to be incorporated into Swaziland (now Eswatini) . Public ridicule for this came from Chief Buthelezi . In June 1986 David Lukhele, the then secretary of the KaNgwane council of chiefs (German: "Chief Council of KaNgwane") and head of the opposition party Inyatsi ya Mswati was shot dead during his stay in Mamelodi . He was considered a proponent of the incorporation of this homeland under the sovereignty of Swaziland. A working group ( Rumpff Commission ) set up by the South African government in December 1982 and headed by Judge FLH Rumpff had drawn up proposals for this outsourcing. In March 1984, Foreign Ministers Pik Botha and Richard Dlamini held a meeting in Pretoria on a relevant international treaty . The transfer of territory should be linked to a security pact, according to which the Swaziland authorities would have been obliged to restrict the activities of the ANC on their national territory. However, no agreement could be reached on the area adjustment and Foreign Minister Botha met with Prince Bhekimpi Dlamini and representatives of the Liqoqo on June 28, 1984 in Swaziland , whereby the dissolution of the Rumpff Commission was also a topic of discussion.

After the Department of Public Works and Land Affairs began in the first half of the 1980s, border fences along some border sections on the homelands of Bophuthatswana (17.6 km), Transkei (4.8 km) and Venda (74.7 km) To install, it was planned for 1986 and 1987 to erect a further 1000 km of such fences, including the borders with Swaziland and Lesotho . Ben Wilkens , then Deputy Minister of Land Affairs and Development , said in 1986 that it had not yet been decided whether these border installations should be electrified.

According to a non-aggression treaty between Swaziland and South Africa from 1984, which also provided for the suppression of ANC activities, both countries cooperated in the security sector. In 1986 an investigation found that the ANC had arms smuggled into South Africa from Mozambique via the Swaziland area. This treaty was preceded by a security agreement between the two states, which had already been concluded on February 17, 1982 and which was kept secret until 1984, which had been signed two weeks after the conclusion of the Nkomati Agreement .

In the 1980s, a growing number of Swaziland citizens crossed the border to earn a living in South Africa. The focus was on the mining sector, especially gold mining. For gold mining, which is extremely important in terms of economic policy, they formed an important group of workers alongside the even more numerous migrant workers from Lesotho, because the number of mine workers from the homelands as well as from Mozambique and other neighboring countries finally fell after 1985. 8,090 people came from Swaziland in 1980, 9,294 in 1982, 12,365 in 1985 and 16,387 in 1990.

In April 2006 protests against the political situation in Swaziland broke out on the border on the South African side. Several organizations blocked four border crossings on April 12. The call for a demonstration was addressed to members of the major trade union federation COSATU , the Swaziland Solidarity Network, the SACP , as well as ANCYL and SASCO . During the protests, the South African police used firearms near the Matsamo border crossing . Eight demonstrators were injured, two of them seriously. 25 protesters were arrested, including two COSATU organizers. These events sparked a public controversy with the South African police, in the course of which the police operation was compared to the behavior of the Swaziland police and police practice during the apartheid period . The protests of the South African actors found formal support from the Swaziland Federation of Trade Union (SFTU). The entire border in the KwaZulu-Natal area was blocked.

In the meantime, COSATU members had been detained for their involvement in previous actions. In May 2006, protests at the border continued by union protesters from the ranks of NUMSA . The Vice Secretary General of the People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), Kislon Shongwe, spoke. This time, too, South African police units from the province of KwaZulu-Natal took action against those gathered and arrested numerous people for disturbing the public calm.

In 2007, the Swaziland government arrested 16 PUDEMO members who picketed the Mananga border crossing and who were accused of distributing inflammatory leaflets containing oppositional content against the autocratic government. On the South African side, COSATU members had simultaneously carried out a solidary protest action.

Before the parliamentary elections in Swaziland in 2008, 200 protesters from Swaziland marched to the border with South Africa, but were stopped by the police in their country because the government believed their action was illegal. On the South African side, more than 200 people gathered at the Oshoek border post in solidarity, demonstrating the extravagant lifestyle of King Mswati III. criticized whose country is one of the poorest in the world and at the same time has one of the highest HIV infection rates.

In other solidarity actions in 2015, the border crossing at Oshoek was the central location. In the course of this, calls were made for the readmission of the political parties that had been banned in Swaziland since 1973 and the release of political prisoners. Zanele Mathebula, a top COSATU official, spoke out in favor of a change of power in the neighboring country, which should lead to the people taking over government.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Geographer Bureau of Intelligence and Research: South Africa – Swaziland Boundary ( September 20, 2012 memento in the Internet Archive ). International Boundary Study No. 137. on www.law.fsu.edu (English)
  2. ^ Department of Home Affairs: South African Ports of Entry. Swaziland ( Memento of the original from August 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . on www.home-affairs.gov.za, as seen on October 17, 2015 (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.home-affairs.gov.za
  3. ↑ Swaziland National Trust Commission: Swaziland Border Gates . Status: March 2009. at www.sntc.org.sz (English)
  4. ^ Border Control Operational Coordinating Committee: Mananga . www.borders.sars.gov.za (English)
  5. ^ Border Control Operational Coordinating Committee: Jeppe's Reef . www.borders.sars.gov.za (English)
  6. ^ Border Control Operational Coordinating Committee: Josefsdal . www.borders.sars.gov.za (English)
  7. ^ Border Control Operational Coordinating Committee: Oshoek . www.borders.sars.gov.za (English)
  8. ^ Border Control Operational Coordinating Committee: Waverley . www.borders.sars.gov.za (English)
  9. ^ Border Control Operational Coordinating Committee: Nerston . www.borders.sars.gov.za (English)
  10. ^ Border Control Operational Coordinating Committee: Emahlathini . www.borders.sars.gov.za (English)
  11. ^ Border Control Operational Coordinating Committee: Bothashoop . www.borders.sars.gov.za (English)
  12. ^ Border Control Operational Coordinating Committee: Mahamba . www.borders.sars.gov.za (English)
  13. ↑ Border Control Operational Coordinating Committee: Onverwacht . www.borders.sars.gov.za (English)
  14. ^ Border Control Operational Coordinating Committee: Golela . www.borders.sars.gov.za (English)
  15. ^ SAIRR : Race Relations Survey 1986, Part 2 . Johannesburg 1987, p. 639
  16. ^ SAIRR: Race Relations Survey 1984 . Johannesburg 1985, pp. 505-508
  17. ^ SAIRR: Race Relations Survey 1986, Part 2 . Johannesburg 1987, p. 604
  18. ^ SAIRR: Race Relations Survey 1986, Part 1 . Johannesburg 1987, pp. 136-137
  19. ^ SAIRR: Race Relations Survey 1984 . Johannesburg 1985, p. 838
  20. ↑ SAIRR: Race Relations Survey 1991/1992 , Johannesburg 1992, p. 238
  21. ^ SAIRR: Race Relations Survey 1993/1994 , Johannesburg 1994, p. 460
  22. ^ COSATU: Swaziland border blockade . News from April 4, 2006 on www.cosatu.org.za (English)
  23. ^ COSATU: Swaziland border blockade . News from April 13, 2006 on www.cosatu.org.za (English)
  24. ↑ Lavinia Mahlangu: Protest blocks KZN-Swaziland border Message from the Mail & Guardian from April 12, 2006 on www.mg.co.za (English)
  25. ^ National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa: International: Cosatu activists jailed for supporting Swazi people . on posting from July 16, 2006 on www.numsa.org.za (English)
  26. ↑ Mail & Guardian: Swaziland protesters arrested at border post . Message from Mail & Guardian of April 12, 2007 on www.mg.co.za (English)
  27. ↑ Mail & Guardian: Swaziland police have stopped dozens of demonstrators trying to blockade border posts in protest against elections on Friday . Message from Mail & Guardian of September 18, 2008 on www.mg.co.za (English)
  28. ^ SABC: Cosatu calls for unbanning of political parties in Swaziland ( Memento from January 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). News from September 9, 2015 on www.sabc.co.za (English)