FRANCISTOWN: Senior Magistrate Tshepo Magetse has decried the conduct of some farmers who have a tendency of paying their herd boys late. Magetse, who heads the Francistown (Speciliased and Mobile Stock Theft Court), made the call Wednesday this week when presiding over some stock theft and illegal entry into Botswana cases.
The Magistrate said he has observed that when some herd boys are asked in court why they resorted to stealing livestock, they say they do so because their employers usually pay them late. This tendency, Magetse noted, contributes to the increasing numbers of stock theft cases not only in his jurisdiction but in the whole country. The increasing cases of stock theft, Magetse added, has led to the creation of mobile theft courts and anti-stock theft units at division level, districts and stations assigned to specifically deal with incidents of stock theft on a daily basis. Magetse pleaded with the police and other stakeholders to take his message to farmers during their outreach programmes in order to curb the menace of increasing stock theft cases. “I also implore farmer associations to have a platform, which will give the herd boys the opportunity to air their various grievances in a bid to stop cases of stock theft.
The courts can pass stiff penalties against perpetrators of stock theft cases but if farmers don’t pay their herd boys monthly as agreed and on time, our courts will always be flooded with cases of stock theft,” a concerned Magetse clarified. He reiterated his call for farmers to play an active part in the welfare of their livestock minders while presiding over the case of one Zimbabwean man, Given Sibanda, who was arrested by the police for entering Botswana using an ungazetted point of entry last year in April. Sibanda, 22, was arrested by the police in Monarch Phase 6 on July 15 for a case of suspected stock theft. Upon arraignment in court on Wednesday, Sibanda agreed that he had entered Botswana illegally adding that he was employed by one Billy as a herd boy. Sibanda had also told the court that Billy owed him salaries for June and July,2023. “Sibanda says that he is owed his June and July salaries. Please make sure that he is paid his salaries,” Magetse implored, referring to the prosecution.
Magetse then advised the police (prosecution) to also lay charges against people who hire illegal immigrants because they are also contributing to the scourge of stock theft. “Farmers who employ illegal immigrants should also be charged. We are trying to protect them but at the same time they are also helping to increase cases of stock theft. Our efforts of deterring stock theft cases will come to nothing if charges are not levied against farmers who employ illegal immigrants,” said Magetse before sentencing Sibanda and another illegal immigrant, Mfowabo Nkomo, both to one year imprisonment for entering Botswana through ungazetted point of entry.
