A new documentary film, Open Borders, produced by AfriForum exposes the complete lack of border control on South Africa’s border with Zimbabwe and looks at the wave of crime this has caused.

The documentary also shows the extreme lengths that AfriForum’s neighbourhood- and farm watch volunteers must go to, to protect locals and their property against repeated infiltration by smugglers and poachers in this area. Criminals on the South African side also use this open border to smuggle stolen vehicles into Zimbabwe.

“You really cannot understand how bad the situation is until you see it for yourself, and that’s exactly what this film aims to do. With this film we take the viewer there with us to experience the chaos. Our border areas have turned into the Wild West, where it’s every man for himself. Communities have no choice but to take responsibility for their own safety, given the absolute disinterest by government to successfully police these areas,”

says Jacques Broodryk, the films’ director, and Campaigns Manager at AfriForum.

In various places the border fence itself has been stolen and sold for scrap metal, this is how dire the situation has become.

“Volunteers who form part of AfriForum’s community safety structures put their lives on the line to combat cross border crime because the authorities seem to have no interest in solving the problem,”

Broodryk concludes.

“Our neighbourhood and farm watch volunteers go the extra mile to protect and support their communities. We’d like to encourage more people to get involved and help secure their communities” says Raymond Hohls, AfriForum’s operational manager for community safety.

The next instalment of Open Borders will look at the South African border with Mozambique.

Open Borders can be viewed here.

To support AfriForum’s community safety volunteers on the Zimbabwean border, please visit

www.openborders.co.za