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Marvelous Moyo Gwanda Correspondent
LIVESTOCK farmers have called on the courts to pass stiffer sentences on people who vandalise fences along the country’s highways saying the offence has resulted in road accidents and loss of lives.Farmers said while drought had claimed most of their animals, theft of fences along the highways had worsened their predicament as vehicles were killing their livestock on the roads.
The call was supported by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation responsible for livestock, Cde Paddy Zhanda.
He said stricter penalties should be imposed for theft of fences especially along the highways.
“The issue of vandalism of fences is being treated like a minor offence where someone is just sentenced to do community service. The sentences are not deterrent. This is an issue that needs cooperation from other ministries such as Home Affairs and Ministry of Justice,” he said.
Cde Zhanda said communities also had a role to play in reducing vandalism of fences by exposing the culprits who live within their communities.
“In communities that we live in, we know who is a thief. We really should assist ourselves before we ask others to assist us,” said Cde Zhanda.
But Cde Zhanda hit out at livestock farmers as well saying they were failing to look after their animals.
“Surely, where is the passion of being a livestock farmer when you don’t know where your cattle or goats are? Let us take livestock farming as a very serious business,” he said.
Civil Service Commissioner Clara Siphiwe Nondo, who is also a farmer, said they were suffering as farmers as thieves continued to steal fences from their farms but with nothing much being done by the law.
She said a sentence of community service on vandals was too lenient and stiffer penalties were needed to deter others from committing the offence.
Nondo said animals were also at risk of getting infectious diseases as they moved from place to place.
Online Reporter