Stock theft, more needs to be done to protect farmers

Mhlupheki Dube

ONE of the disadvantages of writing a column for a long time is that at some point you tend to repeat what you have written.

This is mostly unintentional but today I intentionally repeat myself on the subject of stock theft because this has become a serious subject of concern.

Readers probably came across a sad story of one Ndodana Ngwenya from Kezi area whose whole herd of 53 cattle was driven by thieves and possible loaded into a truck(s) for the market. This was circulating extensively on social media during the past two weeks. Again, another truck with a load of several goats was intercepted and the pictures were also circulating and farmers being advised to check at some police station for goats stolen around Zezani, Nhwali and other areas of Gwanda South.

These are very painful issues to read especially if you are a livestock farmer. It takes a lot of investment to raise 53 cattle both in terms of time and financial resources. It is no secret that livestock especially cattle are the last line of defence against poverty for most families in Zimbabwe in general and Matabeleland region in particular. Cattle have become perhaps one of the few investment vehicles in our volatile economy which keeps deteriorating. We are one kraal away from poverty for most livestock farmers such that when somebody drives away 53 animals, they have effectively condemned you to destitution and abject poverty.

Stock theft is not a new phenomenon but what is perhaps worrying is the scale of attack and the complicit involvement of officials in these grand thefts. That cases of police allegedly aiding stock theft are actually on the increase is seriously worrying and talks to the urgent need to re-evaluate the safe mechanisms that we have been using to guard against stock theft.

I have argued before that police are actually not the best placed Government arm to clear livestock, preferring instead extension workers like Agritex officers. My argument then was that these officers are easily accessible to farmers as they are based at ward level and they know the livestock and the owners because they work with the farmers on a daily basis.

Now that police are allegedly becoming willing participants in aiding stock theft cases through fraudulent clearance procedures, I think it is about time we got an updated version of security protocols against stock theft because this version we are currently using has expired.

Since most of these stolen cattle are usually taken to abattoirs for slaughter before the meat is shipped to various butcheries, it is my submission that there is a need to fortify the verification system by the abattoirs. Documents verification by the abattoirs should be more than a cursory scan of the movement permit and clearance form. There should be a telephone verification of the documents from their source such that a senior officer from which animals clearance forms were generated should confirm on the phone that indeed they cleared the animals.

Same with the veterinary movement permits, these should be corroborated by a senior district officer or even a provincial officer for that matter. While this cannot be tamper proof it will eliminate the worrying trend where thieves working together with police, drive animals from one district to clear them falsely in another district like what is alleged to have happened in the Ndodana Ngwenya case referred to above.

Another important thing that needs to be abolished if we are to contain stock theft, is the trucking of animals at night. If livestock transportation is done during the day, concerned citizens can stop any suspect truck and ask for documents yet at night thieves have a free passage all the way.

I do not have all the answers about how to contain the stock theft problem and it is possible that my suggestions on this platform could be impractical or stupid or both but I am 100 percent sure that we need to upgrade the security proofing around stock theft lest we expose our livestock farmers to prowling and shameless human predators.

Let’s share ideas on how we can mitigate against this malignant practice especially in the context of lockdown which forced Government to give amnesty even to some non-rehabilitated convicts. Add to that some ex-convicts that were deported by our neighbouring countries and are desperate to earn a living, you have disaster on your hands.

For the avoidance of doubt, I am not labelling every deportee a criminal. In parting I reiterate again that we need a new system to guard against stock theft, especially at the point of animal clearance and transportation.

Uyabonga umntakaMakhumalo. Feedback [email protected]/ cell 0772851275.