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Look after your livestock – pleads police

Selebatso Mooketsi Selebatso Mooketsi
Selebatso Mooketsi

Botswana Police Service's (BPS) public relations officer, Selebatso Mooketsi, made the plea while speaking to The Monitor, pointing out that taking care of livestock and branding was key in reducing livestock theft. The Police seem to be fighting a losing battle in their efforts to curb stock theft as rustlers continue to wreak havoc across the country despite efforts like anti-stock theft operation known as Kgomo-Khumo. Mooketsi said from April 22 to May 26, over a period of five weeks, they recorded 68 cases in which 151 livestock were involved.

They arrested and charged 82 people with stock theft. She said amongst these cases 19 have been registered before the Customary Courts and they have recovered 109 livestock. “We haven't recovered 11, which we strongly suspect were stolen and slaughtered for a ready market. Amongst these animals, cattle are the most targeted livestock. We have since established that there is a syndicate of herdsmen, stock theft criminals who have partnerships with butchery owners and street vendors, as they supply them with carcasses,” she explained.

The Police spokesperson added they have since established the criminals monitor farmers who do not take care of their livestock and steal them. Mooketsi stated that some thieves target unbranded calves and matimela which they would brand for themselves. “Most farmers don't take care of their livestock, their cattle don't turn up and they don't make any effort to locate them and bring them back home. They would give birth there and those thieves will brand their calves for themselves. 'Some farmers fuel stock theft because they don't take care of their animals, they hardly visit their cattle posts and they don't even know the number of their livestock. Some farmers don't pay their herdsmen hence becoming reluctant to look after their cattle and they aid and sell those cattle to thieves at a cheap price,” she said. Mooketsi said farmers should know that beef products are in demand and stock theft has become a ‘well-paying job’ to some people, something that should encourage them to do more in taking care of their livestock. She added that there are too many informal sector cooks popularly known as bommaseapei, who buy large quantities of meat on a daily basis, something that pushes up demand for meat.

'We've been encouraging farmers to also consider go disa, (looking after their cattle when they go out to graze) because some thieves hang around the bush to pounce on them when they are out for grazing. 'As police, our efforts are evident looking at the number of arrests we make daily, hence pleading with farmers to help us curb stock theft by looking after their livestock,” Mooketsi said.