Kgomokhumo exposes rampant cattle rustling
Pini Bothoko | Monday September 25, 2023 06:00
The Botswana Police Service (BPS)’s anti-stock theft operation dubbed Kgomo Khumo, has invaded Palapye and Mahalapye areas and its presence is evident as butcheries are dry with no meat, a clear indication that indeed most businesses rely on stolen livestock for their businesses. As the police had warned before invading the area for the residents of the Central District to brace themselves for meat free season, some butcheries in Palapye and Mahalapye areas are struggling without meat supply.
This has sparked a debate across social media platforms with the public having mixed feelings over the matter as the majority are of the view that it clearly shows that some butcheries depend wholly on stolen livestock for supplies.
Stock theft has become rampant and difficult to contain thus keeping the police on their toes as the country is rocked by stock theft cases that are becoming difficult to contain.
This crime is causing great misery to farmers in Botswana, especially in rural communities that largely depend on agriculture for a living.
Beef products are in demand and stock theft has become a well paying job as the demand for meat remains high on a daily basis. Recently three men operating butcheries in Thomadithotse and Serorome wards in Palapye were arrested and charged with stealing stock after they were found in possession of cow carcasses in their butcheries they could not account for.
The BPS’ public relations officer, Assistant Commissioner Dipheko Motube said the Kgomo Khumo operation is determined and their presence will soon be felt with probably some butcheries closing down. Motube stated that cattle rustling is causing great misery to farmers in Botswana, especially in rural communities.
He revealed that stock theft is currently bad in the Central District as older cows are being targeted mostly by organised criminal syndicates. Motube said since they invaded the area at the beginning of September, they have arrested 43 people for different offences of stealing stock involving 33 cattle. He said three of them were recently sent to prison by the Shoshong Customary Court for the duration of six years. He stated that roadside cooks popularly known as bo-mmaseapei and some butchery owners are behind the scourge as their businesses depend on stolen stock for meat supply.
“We are dealing with syndicates who take stock theft as their career.
They are well-organised with proper organisational structures just like regular companies with employers and employees. They are well-resourced with even intelligence units. Our intention is to disband them and it is not an easy task,” he said. Motube said there are too many of these informal sector cooks and they buy a lot of meat on a daily basis and this pushes demand up. He revealed to have recently raided 21 butcheries in Palapye, confiscated stolen meat even from on sale displays and duly arrested the suspects.
“We have observed that a number of butcheries thrive on stolen stock and we promise farmers peace of mind. We had anticipated butcheries to go dry and already our presence is being felt and the situation will be worse with time because we want to close all the gaps,” he said. He further revealed that during their recent raids in Palapye, they established that some butcheries have been operating without licenses hence suspecting that they were thriving on stolen stock for their supply.
He said they are busy delivering the objective of the operation, which is to arrest stock theft criminals and take them to court.
“Moreover, we also wanted to establish their market and we have since found out that they deal with butcheries and bo-mmaseapei. Due to this demand, cattle thieves are thus under pressure to keep the supply side ongoing hence it is no coincidence that stock theft has become a complex operation,” he said.
Motube said the most prevalent areas are cattle posts in the outskirts of Palapye, Bobirwa and Tswapong villages, Shoshong, Sehunong and as far as Sandveld farms where they observed that stock thieves hang around grazing areas to rustle unbranded cattle, which are their chief targets. He stated that in some instances, the criminals partner with herdsmen or badisa who will steal their bosses’ livestock and sell to stock theft criminals.
He stated that to show how lucrative stock theft is, most of the suspects or convicts hardly quit from stock theft as most of them are repeat offenders and they further commit offences whilst on bail.
Meanwhile, Motube further revealed that stock theft Act was recently amended to deal with the issue of possession and as such butchery owners are expected to prove beyond reasonable doubt where they obtained their meat or supply from.
“We want farmers to have value for money when selling their cattle. We want to create a market that will benefit farmers not criminals because farmers can grow the country’s economy. At the moment butcheries in the Central District are selling their meat from P32/kg for all cuts because they want the meat to get out of the shelves quickly,” he said.
He stated that the population for Palapye and Mahalapye is good for business and they want to create a crime free environment so that Batswana can operate legitimate businesses and farmers to be able to sell their animals and make better profits.
Motube said investigations of these cases are usually very difficult and complex as nowadays suspected criminals prefer to be tried at the Magistrates’ Courts where they exercise their right to legal representation as opposed to the Customary Courts where they are not given a chance of representation by attorneys.
“When doing our patrols around the cattle posts, we continue to warn farmers about this scourge. We have since observed that some farmers’ lack of responsibility and accountability in branding and earmarking their cattle, worsen the problem and as a result the majority of them (farmers) end up losing their cattle because they cannot identify them. As for unbranded beasts, being the zero teeth, we have encouraged farmers to make sure they brand their livestock to curb stock theft,” he said.
The police spokesperson pleaded with farmers to visit their cattle posts frequently and familiarise themselves with their livestock, pay their herdsmen on time in order to motivate them.
Addressing the scourge as a national crisis, Motube added that stealing of cattle is causing great misery to farmers in Botswana especially those in rural communities who largely depend on agriculture for sustenance. He said for years, the issue of cross-border cattle rustling, where stolen cattle and livestock from Botswana are smuggled into neighbouring South Africa and Zimbabwe, has been a concern for both countries.