Communities along the Limpopo River near the Zimbabwe border are calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to address cross-border crime in his State of the Nation Address on Thursday.

Residents and businesspeople in Niani, outside Musina, said criminals from neighbouring countries operate with impunity in the area, stealing vehicles and livestock and smuggling them across the border into Zimbabwe.

Kiran Medukonduri from Mulale, outside Musina, said he was hijacked at gunpoint in 2024 by three armed men who took his bakkie, laptop, phone and shoes before driving the vehicle into Zimbabwe.

"The moment I turned back, I saw a guy pointing down at me, standing next to the bakkie. He was asking for the keys," Medukonduri told SABC News. "There were two other guys with firearms. So, they took all my belongings."

Medukonduri said the attackers left him barefoot in the bush, forcing him to walk until villagers mounted a search party with roughly 20 vehicles to find him.

Phillemon Munyai, from the Niani Business Forum, said communities want the government to build a wall along the border to stop the crime.

"We plead with the government to play their role by building the wall so that border crime ends," Munyai said. "We use our own resources. We use our own cars because if we fail to do that, these people take advantage of this community."

The demands echo longstanding grievances in the area. In August 2024, hundreds of Niani residents threatened to shut down the Baobab Toll Plaza linking Musina to the Beitbridge border crossing, handing over a memorandum demanding the construction of electric fences, walls and trenches along the border.

Nine police officers from the nearby Tshamutumbu Police Station were arrested and dismissed in 2024 for involvement in cross-border crime corruption, according to Limpopo police.

South Africa's military intercepted more than 1,174 undocumented Zimbabweans attempting to enter the country through illegal border crossings in a single operation over the December 2025 festive season, according to the South African National Defence Force.

The Border Management Authority (BMA), formally established in April 2023, said in January it was working on plans for a one-stop border post at Beitbridge under a public-private partnership, with construction expected to begin in late 2026.

Ramaphosa is scheduled to deliver the 2026 SONA at the Cape Town City Hall on Feb. 12.