A career in Drakensberg dagga smuggling?

Details: Written by Chris Sommer; Parent Category: Drakensberg; Category: Security; Published: 19 November 2009; Last Updated: 02 October 2014; Hits: 5042

Seems like a crazy preposition doesn’t it? Imagine my surprise when I stumbled onto this question posted by someone on the net.

Should smuggling marijuana between Lesotho and South-Africa be considered a career option?

This question was posted in Yahoo! Answers, under Education & Reference > Higher Education (University +): http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091012122832AAXJRt2

"Ok this isn't some joke... On the border of south africa and lesotho is the Drakensberg Mountain range, 3200m above sea level, cold and 1 km sheer cliffs marking the escarpment.

Me and my family often go hiking there (we live in S.A) and we always find a group of people with huge backpacks full of marijuana. I believe they are being misused, the hike those mountain passes only at night time, with basically no warm clothes or lights, only gumboots. They can go up and down the entire mountain a day. Below some south african guy buys it (I am sure cheating them) They have the hardest jobs i think but they deserve the money.

I thought of enrolling in the air force, traveling europe picking fruits, or doing a Bsc in science. But seriously i dont want to live that way, these guys on the mountain they have a clear goal, survival, they dont care that it's illegal because well its a plant that people buy and it helps their fever. They are true nomads living for life, that sounds like a life worth lived.

What kind of crime would I be committing?"

It took me a while to assess the sincerity of this question...

What is very significant here is how commonplace and blatant the smuggling is. References to the smuggling and awareness of its details appear even in a spot for career related questions on the net!

What also struck me is the impression the author has that the life of Basotho Drakensberg smuggler is a fulfilling one, and that what they are doing is perhaps not that bad.

What laws do they break? Here is a list that I can think of:

1. Smuggling is illegal. Period. Even worse when its drugs. I am not attempting a discourse here on whether dagga should be legalised or not. Its clear that it has been around for a long time and has accepted place in many cultures. The fact remains that it is illegal in both countries concerned – and this is punishable by law irrespective of personal beliefs.

2. It involves an illegal border crossing. This is a serious offense in any country.

3. They are armed with illegal firearms. These actually get used too. Shoot-outs take place with other smuggling parties, the authorities and locals lying in ambush at the bottom. People get killed. Add homicide and attempted homicide to the list of what laws are being broken.

4. Stealing accompanies the smuggling. Cattle and horses are often stolen from South Africa and taken back to Lesotho. Wherever possible, hiking equipment is also collected along the way!

5. It involves illegal entry to protected wilderness areas and a World Heritage Site. It’s more than them just not paying the visitors fee – there’s actually laws prohibiting this.

6. They harm the environment (a very sensitive one at that). And it is beyond simply the sentiment of conservationists. What they do actually violates laws that are in place to protect these areas:

* They create shortcuts and new trails, which is unsightly and leads to erosion. In some cases the soil can never fully recover.

* They make camp fires. Wood is not a renewable resource in the Berg. Futhermore the effects of camp fires are unsightly, and they are of course a big risk for creating runaway fires which can cause great harm.

* They litter. Familiar signs are bread and tobacco packets, tins, maize cobs, containers from juice mixes, bits of plastic bags that the dagga is carried in, worn out rubber boots and bits of clothing.

* They make a mess of caves that they camp in. The typical signs are camp fires and blackend walls, litter and graffiti. Even worse, some of these are rock art sites and the paintings get damaged. These are the very caves that, together with the natural beauty of the Berg, have earned it its World Heritage status and there are specific laws in place governing access to rock art sites.

Smugglers do get arrested in the Drakensberg and get criminally prosecuted. The comment by one of the contributors of, "South Africa cannabis production is an open secret and enjoys de facto decriminalization" is not the truth! Regular raids are done by police in both Lesotho and South Africa whereby dagga is confiscated and fields destroyed. That some of the local police are corrupt and involved does not make it any less illegal.

Besides breaking the law, why do something which earns you the scorn of the authorities, hikers and a lot of the local people living in the foothills?

Also smugglers are not “true nomads living for life”. They are not nomadic – they are rural folk who will typically have family living in a hut back home, and they are subsistence farmers. What drives them is not a zest for life. What drives them is poverty and the need to make a better living.

They earn about R1500 per bag that they deliver, which is probably around twice a month. So, to earn R3000 per month, they have to carry a load over many kilometres and difficult terrain, often at night. And this in rubber boots and a blanket, come rain, shine and any other extreme weather condition. Not to mention the dangers they face: ambushes and shoot-outs. After all their efforts they could loose their money, get arrested or get killed.

To the author of this question, someone who is at a cross-roads in life, and needs to make some decisions which may feel very weighty in their responsibility, I would say that the smugglers are actually envious of you. You should not be envious of them. As they walk past you, they see all those nice clothes and gear you have – they wish they could have the same. You have the luxury of being in the mountains for fun, they do not. You are in a position to do something with your life which is way beyond what they will ever be.

The goal and purpose in life that you seek is something that is fostered in the attitudes and beliefs of your heart and mind. Carrying dagga over the Drakensberg is not where you’ll find it...

Posts in discussion: Lesotho border patrol

intrepid replied to: #56812 06 May 2013 09:38

Bear in mind too that these kinds of "big busts" are nothing new and have happened time and again over recent years. Last year there were several big busts and arrests. So far there has been no correlation between these and a backlash against hikers.

I totally understand the uneasy feeling of walking past smugglers knowing that they are carrying weapons. Its not the way things should be. But so far the issues have been limited to a couple of cases of gear snatching, confrontational discussions arising from uneasy hikers having their campsite invaded, and several cases where gunshots were fired. These gunshot cases often happen at night and seem to be directed at rival groups rather than hikers. There was a clear case near The Neck in the Organ Pipes area a few years ago where it seems the smugglers panicked in the dark and fired a few rounds, mistaking hikers to be park rangers who are often on patrol there.

I've personally been privy to a gunshot incident. It was in the middle of the day in the Ships Prow area and a single clear shot echoed through the valley. We were very confused as to what it was at first. Later as we were ascending the North Fork, we heard the smugglers and/or rustlers moving up almost parallel to us in the South Fork, as they were yelling loudly. After the hike I found out that this bunch had been pursued by the park rangers as they were stealing cattle. Evidently we walked right by two cow carcasses that had been pulled off the trail by the rangers. In hind sight it may well have been that this bunch may have seen us coming up the valley behind them and got panicked, thinking that the rangers still hadn't given up yet.

I’ve also walked right into large groups of them, numbering as many as 30-40. On one occasion it was just two of us, some 3km over the border into Lesotho. I have never seen so many smugglers and so much dagga in one place before! The bags were lying everywhere, some even opened, and many were stacked into several shepherd huts. They didn’t even bother much with us, to the extent that I actually tried to make conversation with them. On another occasion we ran into a very large bunch that were just returning from a run. They were very jovial and light-hearted, talking and laughing with us. They were even up for pictures.

I mention these things to say that though the situation is serious, I believe there is no reason to avoid the Berg currently because of this. I certainly don't feel at ease about any of it, but this is "business as usual" and this is the peak season for smuggling and busts. Its no secret what goes on at Ntonjelana, Rockeries and Mnweni Passes and police busts have been happening there for many years. That we hike there is incidental.

It may be best to avoid these passes, as well as the Organ Pipes and Grays Pass areas for the current season, especially if the situation seems too troubling for you.

ghaznavid replied to: #56808 05 May 2013 18:51

mnt_tiska wrote: For the moment, the Berg seems safer than the streets - at least to me.

I tend to agree.

tiska replied to: #56805 05 May 2013 11:59

Highlands Fanatic wrote: [
I'm just concerned about a potential backlash to us as hikers. These guys may start thinking: who gave their position away, are any hikers they pass by potentially gonna tell on them etc etc. I'm concerned the casual bypassing of these groups with hikers may have come to an end.

It seemes completely logical to think this way - but the evidence so far is that the smugglers are not suspicious of hikers. They also have no objective reason to be, as far as I know, but that is not something they will have any proof of.

If one views the smuggling process from the smuggler's perspective, then their job is to shift as much dope as quickly as they can into SA - preferably without having to engage with any third parties. Their key threat comes from rival gangs who may want to steal the dope (imagine hiking with 3.8 million ZAR in the side pocket of the backpack). I think this is the main reason they carry weapons. Thereafter, the threat comes from police/military - which we know to be too infrequent a threat to have any impact on what they do beyond the short term. Thereafter still, the threat may be from any other landowner along the way (e.g. in Mnweni) who may want to impose a tax of one sort or another on the passing trade. Hikers are way down the list and are not a direct threat. Smugglers may think hikers pass on information, but will know that links between busts and hikers are at best very indirect - there are so few busts compared with contacts with hikers. There is nevertheless a chance that smugglers might mistake hikers for police/military - especially at night. In fact I think this has already happened in the Cathedral area. If the police/military were to make a much more systematic and extensive effort in the Berg to curtail smuggling, then this risk would begin to approach the kind of risks the population is exposed to in SA with hijacking and heists. For the moment, the Berg seems safer than the streets - at least to me.

There is a parallel to the Berg smuggling issue which I have come across - namely in the central Sahara. In the 1990s, fuel was smuggled south out of Libya/Algeria into Mali/Niger. Cigarettes went the other way. This trade has morphed into an enormously lucrative cocaine trade (e.g. a 727 was landed in the Sahara with 10 tons of coke - the plane was left behind in the desert as the profits didn't justify the refuel/takeoff hassle). In all this time, tourists like me in the central Sahara have had the occasional contact with passing smugglers, mostly at night. One such occasion was actually on the slopes of Mnt Tiska in SE Algeria. The smugglers were coming in from Niger at night. Smugglers have always studiously ignored the tourists. We are not part of their mission.

HFc replied to: #56802 03 May 2013 19:19

mnt_tiska wrote: I definitely have views on the smuggling business.

If a donkey train carrying 3.8m worth of dope were to cross a road border from Lesotho to SA, the whole lot would get banged up. Because of this, the donkey trains ply the Berg passes instead - so that they don't get caught (most of the time). They do this because they can fetch a higher price for the smuggled dope in SA than they can selling it in Lesotho. As a result of this calculus, the Berg suffers irreversibly (it takes 10 000 years or so to replace an eroded soil horizon).

Its not about a few groups of people sitting round smoking dope as they have always done. It is about lucrative schemes to make enormous sums of money for which the Berg carries the prime negative externality.

Very well said.

I'm just concerned about a potential backlash to us as hikers. These guys may start thinking: who gave their position away, are any hikers they pass by potentially gonna tell on them etc etc. I'm concerned the casual bypassing of these groups with hikers may have come to an end. (As Ghaznavid also said above)

Trying to make an impact on the dagga trade and the subsequent berg erosion is the right thing for sure, but tough due to the absolute vast number of passes and areas they can use on all sides of Lesotho.

Tough one this...until the dust settles a bit on this matter I am postponing some escarpment endeavours, hopefully not too long.

kliktrak replied to: #56801 03 May 2013 12:08

hmmm...probably explains the SAPS horse transport truck parked at Highmoor on 01 May.

ghaznavid replied to: #56800 03 May 2013 11:56

Kind of hard to be objective as a person who is very anti-smoking (mainly after watching my grandfather who only smoked for 20 years die of emphysema) and anti drugs/similar illegal substances.

What worries me is that things usually get worse before they get better. By doing something like this, the smugglers will just vary their routes, maybe get more hostile toward hikers (bearing in mind that we know the routes they use and they may feel that we inform on them to the police).

tiska replied to: #56798 03 May 2013 09:00

I definitely have views on the smuggling business.

If a donkey train carrying 3.8m worth of dope were to cross a road border from Lesotho to SA, the whole lot would get banged up. Because of this, the donkey trains ply the Berg passes instead - so that they don't get caught (most of the time). They do this because they can fetch a higher price for the smuggled dope in SA than they can selling it in Lesotho. As a result of this calculus, the Berg suffers irreversibly (it takes 10 000 years or so to replace an eroded soil horizon).

Its not about a few groups of people sitting round smoking dope as they have always done. It is about lucrative schemes to make enormous sums of money for which the Berg carries the prime negative externality.

HFc replied to: #56797 03 May 2013 05:44

As per the link to News24

www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Cops-bust-dagga-carrying-donkey-trains-20130502

I am of the conviction that this is the right thing given the social problem that dagga has been, however this may impact on the safety of hiking on the escarpment. Not sure what to think...

intrepid replied to: #53050 14 Feb 2012 11:14

Free State farmers are again headed for court over what they describe as a chaotic situation along the rugged Lesotho border. The Afrikaans daily, Beeld, reports today that the government has failed to live up to its undertakings in a June 2010 settlement that was made an order of court.

“Although the government has complied with certain aspects of the original agreement, it is not living up to its responsibility to protect border farmers. A fence was erected, but it doesn't help if it is not protected. It won't even help if you built a wall here, because they will break it down.”

State failing in duty on Lesotho border – Free State farmers

intrepid replied to: #3127 13 Jun 2011 07:53

On normal escarpment trips I don't take my passport along. If a planned diversion into Lesotho is planned then I do e.g. Yodler's Cascades, Thabana Ntlenyana and Makheka. The likelihood of encountering police there is remote, and that they will ask you for it, even less. Also, hikers are not the problem, smugglers are. You never know though.

Serious tribe replied to: #3124 12 Jun 2011 20:47

Rightly or wrongly, I have never considered, or ever taken my passport when hiking into Lesotho. Just not something i thought about.

Scag replied to: #3119 11 Jun 2011 19:22

Do you guys always take your passport with you when walking along the escarpment?

intrepid replied to: #3118 11 Jun 2011 18:37

While it remains to be seen, I can't imagine them having much impact on our activities in the Berg. The Free State - Lesotho border is definitely what they will focus on for now, see:
www.vertical-endeavour.com/blog/20-drakensberg/security/192-lesotho-border-to-be-patrolled-by-sandf-once-again.html

The SANDF has previously patrolled the Drakensberg anyway (currently it is a special police unit). The only impact it had on us was that they used Thuthumi Lookout Hut, Wilsons Cave, Halfway Cave and Thamathu Cave - and they were not to happy about sharing these with us, as was my experience more than once. But they were friendly for the most part and their concern was the Basotho - they didn't worry about hikers on the escarpment (they are there to protect South Africa, after all). Actually, the Lesotho Mounted Police are more the ones to think about when walking around up there, if you every encounter them. Theoretically they could ask you to present your passport, though they don't always do that.

tiska replied to: #3101 09 Jun 2011 09:16

The Airforce choppers in the Berg will probably be perceived as a threat by the smugglers but I would be (pleasantly!) surprised if the purpose of the chopper deployment goes beyond training. The Airforce has long trained in the Berg. I remember a great photo from the 1980s of an Alouette with its nose-wheel balancing on Devil's Tooth. And of course the Airforce has been involved in many a Berg rescue.

Scag replied to: #3097 09 Jun 2011 08:26

I went to Cobham in March, and while I was there I observed a day of military helicopters flying low in and out of valleys. They appeared to be training.

I also noticed that at the airfield one passes on the way to Cobham, there is now a permanent military base on premises.

tiska replied to: #3094 09 Jun 2011 07:52

I get the sense that the KZN-Lesotho border along the Drakensberg escarpment is the lowest priority of all the borders listed. The Lesotho-OFS border will be a concern long before the high Drakensberg border because of the degree of cross-border theft in that region and the relative ease of military intervention. The Drakensberg will require special training, special equipment and so on. For the most part the SANDF would get themselves into trouble surviving in the Berg nevermind doing anything constructive.

Scag replied to: #3081 08 Jun 2011 12:43

So I have been dwelling on an article I read a while ago about the SANDF buffing up border control in a number of phases, starting with the Zim border in phase one, ending with the Lesotho border in phase three which is planned to be complete in the 2012/2013 financial year.

While this is great with respect to crime, I wonder what it will mean to us, as hikers. At present we can hike up trails which lead into Lesotho without any problem. But will border control put a stop to this?

www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/SANDF-curbed-syndicates-Sisulu-20110407

intrepid replied to: #53049 10 Mar 2011 18:14

The SANDF is to be re-deployed to the Free State - Lesotho border, replacing the SAPS, and the dilapidated and almost non-existent border fence it to be re-built.

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