Eastern Cape farmers lose a collective R58m from stock theft

New technology measures are being implemented to help curb rampant stock theft in the Eastern Cape.

Premier Oscar Mabuyane launched the Livestock Identification Traceability System (LITS) to help the Rural Development and Community Safety departments assist farmers in locating their stolen animals.

The premier revealed that more than 18 000 animals had been stolen in the province in recent months, coming at a cost of R58 million tothe farmers.

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The LITS implementation will tag 30 000 cattle from 120 farms from across the Eastern Cape.

“When you talk about the province being the home of livestock, you are talking about these subsistence rural farmers. We have a problem of livestock theft and it has been with us for some time now,” Mabuyane said.

“We are sending a message to all the thieves out there that we’ll be after you in a better and organized manner. You can’t sleep today and wake up with a kraal full of cows that you can’t account for,” he added

Health implications of livestock tagging

The launch, held in the stock theft hotspot of Tsolo, comes with the ability to monitor health standards.

Rural Development and Agrarian Reform MEC Nonkqubela Pieters explained:

“Even if you sell the animal to somebody else, you will be able to trace the origin. If there are diseases you are able to trace the origin of the cow.

“Farmers are going to be trained to keep records of their cattle to make sure that if it was sick, when was it sick, what type of medication has been used, how many times have you dipped your herd of cattle.”

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The cattle and their owners will be listed on a database. Once fully integrated, every animal slaughtered can be traced to the farm of origin, improving greater industry compliance.

The primary aim is locating the cattle and while the officials admitted that thieves could remove the tags, it create an early response window that can be beneficial to law enforcement.

Polokwane police arrest two for stock theft

Authorities in the Waterburg District arrested two men for the possession of stolen livestock and animal cruelty.

In the sunrise hours of Thurday morning, police searched a Toyota Hilux covered with a sail. The vehicle contained several cows deemed to have been stolen.

The two men, aged 39 and 56 will appear in the Modimolle Magistrate’s Court on Friday morning.