Theft could see meat prices rocketing

By Babington Maravanyika

The price of meat, which is soaring at the moment, is likely to be pushed even higher because of rampant stock theft in the province.

It is estimated to have cost KwaZulu-Natal more than R95-million last year and is forcing farmers to switch to other forms of farming.

The Uthukela, KwaZulu-Natal Midlands and Ulundi districts, as well as farms along the Lesotho border, are among the worst-affected areas.

During the 2005 - 2006 year, 12 681 head of stock worth more than R95 million were stolen in KZN, according to the Red Meat Producers' Organisation.

Of the 7 232 stock-theft incidents reported last year, only 815 were referred to court. Of these 450 were withdrawn, leaving only 365 to be settled in court.

Livestock worth more than R30-million has been stolen in KwaZulu-Natal so far this year, with the emerging black farmers being the worst affected, Koos Marais of the security desk at the KZN Farmers' Union said.

Marais said about 4 000 cattle, worth R28-million, 900 sheep worth about R630 000, and 2 900 goats worth more than R2-million had been stolen from commercial farmers and rural farmers by the end of last month. He said the loss to farmers was much higher than R28-million when the cost of additional security and the replacement of destroyed fences was taken into consideration.

South African Police Services (SAPS) spokesperson, Superintendent Muzi Mngomezulu said that the police could not give statistics as the officer who dealt with such statistics was on leave. He, however, said that about 90 percent of all stolen livestock was from emerging black farmers because their livestock was often left unattended on open fields.

Gerhard Schutte, a manager with the Red Meat Producers' Organisation (RMPO), said stock theft had become one of the fastest growing criminal "industries" in South Africa, and that it threatened the success of the government's land reform initiative. He also said stock theft was pushing up the price of red meat.

"Stock theft is no longer a case where hungry men slaughter an animal for the pot, but rather one of the country's fastest growing industries. For the land reform process to succeed, drastic measures should be taken to prevent the escalation of this negative situation," Schutte said.

Mngomezulu said police had recovered about 40 percent of the stolen animals, but that in some cases it was difficult to identify the owners of the animals because they had not been branded.

Police declined to identify the market for stolen animals, saying this would jeopardise their investigations.

Mngomezulu said it was also difficult to ascertain who the culprits were, as the cattle were often recovered from open fields near several homesteads, and no one admitted to having taken the animals.

He said cross-border stock theft was also a serious problem along the border with Lesotho, and that some of the thieves were armed, making patrolling of the area dangerous. "Shoot-outs between stock thieves and the police are common and it becomes difficult to arrest the perpetrators."

Marais said recovered cattle often had to be destroyed because they would have picked up various diseases.

Marais said although the police did a tremendous job in combating stock theft, easy bail and parole for thieves was a major setback for police and farmers. "The justice system seems to favour the criminal."

His sentiments were echoed by the RMPO which said the lack of knowledge about stock theft methodology in court by the SAPS and prosecutors often led to criminals being discharged.

• This article was originally published on page 5 of The Independent on Saturday on September 01, 2007