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This report assesses the rural safety capacity lost by the phasing out of the South African National Defence Force’s (SANDF) Territorial Reserve, known as the Commandos, and evaluates the South African Police Service's (SAPS) ability to replace these functions. Through fieldwork in the Free State, Eastern Cape, and Gauteng, the author argues that while Commandos primarily protected the interests of the rural middle class and could be socially destructive if deployed inappropriately, they provided a critical force-multiplication capacity for policing agricultural crimes. The report concludes that the transition to SAPS is likely to result in a deterioration of rural policing because SAPS organizational incentives and national performance targets prioritize urban 'contact crimes' over rural property crimes.

This research paper examines the 450km international border between Lesotho and South Africa's Free State province. It analyzes the impact of South African National Defence Force (SANDF) patrols on local relationships, the dynamics of Basotho participation in the South African labour market—particularly in seasonal agriculture—and the economic role of cross-border traders.