Police charge butchery owners
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Thursday April 21, 2016 18:00
The trio has been charged for contravening the ban of slaughter and movement of cloven-hoofed animals and their products imposed by the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS). This came after a buffalo was spotted at Moreane crush near Kanye. The buffalo has since been killed and its carcass burnt.
Thamaga police station commander, Superintendent Moses Makgoeng said that two people, one of them a butchery owner, were caught during a police night patrol offloading meat at a butchery in Thamaga.
“On the 13th, around 2200 hours during our patrol, two people were caught offloading two carcasses of cattle. The two were arrested and charged. We engaged veterinary officers and the meat was inspected before the carcasses were taken and burnt at Gamodubu,” he said. Makgoeng said that the butchery owner was charged P500 while his partner who was transporting the carcasses paid P100.
In another similar incident still on the same day, the police arrested and charged another butchery owner for slaughtering a cow following a tip-off from members of the public. The offender who also owns an illegal abattoir was slapped with a P1,000 fine.
Meanwhile Makgoeng said that despite these two incidents, people have been cooperative. He said even those who have social events are yet to give them problems. “There were funerals in the past week but people were compliant. Some butcheries have already closed down after running out of stock. Others are following this week. This shows that people are cooperating.”
He said those who continue to give the police and DVS wrong information will be charged. He said they are going around butcheries and stock taking to note that no additional stock comes in.