North East hit by cattle rustling
Joseph Balise | Monday June 12, 2023 06:00
Farmers are in tears, their loss of cattle is so severe, especially that due to shortage of land in the district, most farmers rear very small numbers of cattle. Those with 20 or more cattle are considered to be amongst the richest in most villages.
The villagers are in agreement that cattle theft was unknown in the district until very recently. The farmers are also of the opinion that all of a sudden there must be a syndicate particularly committing the crime of cattle theft.
During a village meeting at the Moroka kgotla this week, the villagers said they observed a new trend of crime of cattle theft which immediately emerged following the abrupt stoppage of illegal petrol smuggling from Botswana into Zimbabwe. Moroka village post commander, Sub-Inspector Shimane Mogaladi acknowledged during the meeting that cattle theft is a new phenomenon which is on the increase.
According to him, it is surprising that immediately after the stoppage of the notorious fahla fahla, a term associated with petrol smuggling, a new avenue has opened up. Mogaladi was quick to warn residents against crime in general, observing that if they are not careful, the village is running the risk of breeding a future fahla fahla generation.
As for cattle theft, it became clear during the meeting that the villagers are extremely agitated by the matter. Their major source of livelihood. Rodgers Mbulawa, who lost at least 15 cattle, didn’t hide his disappointment with how the police handled numerous complaints. “To date we don’t know what is happening to our reports.
There is no feedback despite the numerous rumours that some Botswana cattle have been located in some areas of Zimbabwe,” said a clearly enraged Mbulawa. It is not clear whether the police have been following up social media reports that some Botswana cattle are said to be in that country. Khathazo Maganyambu, who last June lost 15 cattle, is a depressed man of prayer. The loss of his cattle has left his health in tatters. “I am no longer the same since the theft of my cattle.
My health has extremely deteriorated. I have been robbed of my source of livelihood,” said Maganyambu. He also accused government for failing to come to their aid at their dire time of need. Maganyambu is distressed. He claims to have been one of those farmers who properly looked after their cattle. Though generally many farmers appear to be neglecting the care for their cattle, Maganyambu boasts that he would every evening ensure that cattle are put inside the kraal. However, as fate would have it, upon his return from a Serowe trip, he discovered that the cattle were missing. He asked his herdboy who answered that he had not put them in the kraal but will ensure that they are in the kraal the following night. According to Maganyambu, this is how his cattle disappeared and could not be traced till today.
Maganyambu explains that his cattle were a thoroughly tamed herd, a vulnerability factor that he suspects the thieves used to drive them to wherever they are hidden or sold. In his search for the cattle and interactions with other villagers, he has been able to establish that on the day of their disappearance, they were seen in the company of some two bulls.
The bulls however returned after a few days according to him. Although the villagers didn’t take much notice of the cattle, and what could possibly be happening, a number of them did notice the direction the cattle were seen last heading.
The cattle were heading from Moroka to Ramokgwebana. The distraught Maganyambu strongly feels that the government is not doing enough, or has not done enough to help them find their cattle. He said government has security agencies that could have immediately been deployed to help find their cattle.
He accused government of not doing enough in that respect. So far Maganyambu, a devout Christian says he has rested his cattle theft case with God. “God knows everything. I have rested my case with Him. He is in charge. I abide in Him,” said Maganyambu who is very grateful to his church that has been praying and consoling him over his loss. All in all he feels that the North East District is neglected in terms of fighting crime. While there is the Kgomo Khumo initiative geared at combating cattle theft in the country, it never came to search for their cattle.
“The team is very busy in the south and hardly seen here in the North East where the border with Zimbabwe is broken down,” said Maganyambu, adding that security is generally lacking as shown by the high levels of crime in general. Following the disappearance of Maganyambu’s cattle, a rare discovery was made at Kgari village where somebody was suspected to be a cattle rustler. He was alleged to be keeping a lot of cattle without proper brand marks at a field in the village. Maganyambu says he went to the field but was unable to find any of his missing cattle. He adds that he has tried every trick in the book to find the cattle but all efforts have been in vain. “They are gone,” is the last thing I can say since “the little hope I had is now finally fading”. Another farmer, who did not want his name to be revealed, said it had always been clear that the breakdown of the border fence between Botswana and Zimbabwe was headed to create a number of challenges for Batswana. First and foremost, according to the farmer, is the fact that there is Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) on the Zimbabwe side, and the practice has been that Botswana cattle crossing into Zimbabwe are killed upon return in a bid to control the spread of the disease. The farmer apportions the other blame to fahla fahla that he faults for also having broken down the border fence in their smuggling of petrol activities into Zimbabwe. The elephants are also blamed for trampling down the border fence. The end result has always been clear that in the long run Botswana cattle would cross into Zimbabwe and may be never return. Cattle theft reports he has been hearing though his village seems to be currently spared also concern the Gasethata cluster chairperson Kgosi Godfrey English. “It is concerning that we hear of cattle theft reports from our neighbouring villages. It frightens and disturbs that if not nipped in the bud, this cattle theft scourge will spill into my village. We are on guard,” said Kgosi English who added that at different intervals, he personally leads patrol teams to fight crime. At the time of going to press, officer commanding No.15 policing district Senior Superintendent Kabo Badirwang could not share the cattle theft statistics though also expressing his concerns at the growing number of cattle theft reports.