Officers raided the farm near White River – a small town in the northern province of Mpumalanga – on Friday. They said they found military tents, licenced firearms and other military equipment.

The camp was initially registered as a training site for a security company but it appears to have been converted, a second police spokersperson, Donald Mdhluli, was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

Mr Mdhluli added that the owner of the security company was a South African national and that the police were investigating if he had permission to run the site as a military-style camp.

Libya has suffered chronic insecurity since the overthrow of its autocratic leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.