Just across the River: Rural Commerce, Border Towns, and the Risk of Border Crossing between Lesotho and South Africa, 1902–2022

Basotho consumers along the international border between Lesotho and South Africa have long had choices about where to conduct commerce. With the Mohokare/Caledon River often easy to ford and the fenceline along the districts of Mafeteng and Mohale’s Hoek similarly easy to cross, the border has offered little resistance to crossers. This article explores how and when Basotho were willing to cross that border for commercial reasons and when they preferred to stay home and conduct commercial transactions there. From the end of the South African War until the contemporary period, Basotho consumers were discerning about their willingness to take on risk. When the risk of crossing the border was low, they crossed in large numbers. When the anti-apartheid liberation struggle and the guerilla operations of the Lesotho Liberation Army made crossing riskier, they were less likely to cross. In the current period, those most willing to take on risk are Basotho commercial middlemen facilitating the crossing of larger consignments of goods destined for sale in Lesotho. Documenting these changes shows how Basotho consumers have always had a degree of agency, even along a border long characterised by power imbalances between South Africa and Lesotho.