Cattle rustling terrorises border villagers
Cattle owners call for lengthy custodial sentences for convicts
The growth of Botswana’s economy through the agricultural sector is hampered by cross border crime which for decades has led to farmers losing valuable property worth millions of Pula annually, Botswana Guardian has established.
Batswana living in villages along the borderline continue to experience multiple terrifying incidents caused by both fellow citizens and in cahoots with their counterparts from neighbouring countries.
What is most traumatising to the farmers is the fact that some of the perpetrators are relatives who impoverish locals by stealing anything from cattle to small livestock and house hold items only to sell them in neighbouring countries, in particular South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Cattle rustlers steal with impunity even from single mothers, whose lives are dependent on livestock. This evil act is rampant throughout the country, but the hot spots are the Northern Eastern, Southern and Western corridors. The north corridors begin around the Maitengwe area covering part of the Matebeland in Zimbabwe and ends in or around Mashatu which starts the eastern part that covers parts of the main rivers in Shashe and Limpopo in Shalimpo area. The West is from the area around Two Rivers to Transfrontier Park and Dobe and between Botswana and Namibia borders. The southern part is from Two Rivers area in Kgalagadi down to Phitshane Molopo and Tlhareseleele villages. But still, this does not exclude farmers in
the Barolong areas whose farms are a distance from the border. The only area that is free from cattle rustling is the North West along Botswana- Namibia border in the Caprivi area, but there is infiltration of other crimes.
What perhaps is most worrisome is the fact that rustlers drive stolen cattle through ungazetted points into South Africa where they find cattle barons who breed for ready- to- buy high markets. The latest case of cattle rustling in the area and currently investigated by the South African Police happened at or near Sepokwane farms in Barolong farms last week, where rustlers stole 12 high breed cattle from a prominent farming family. The case is a classical one that rustlers have either formed syndicates and, or are in cahoots with white cattle barons in South Africa.
The rustlers crossed into Botswana, stole cattle and drove them to kraals where an auction sale was to take place the next day in the North West Province. Working on a tip, the family travelled there where they met resistance from farmers who had already bought the stolen cattle.
Speaking to BG News in an interview, the farmer who asked for his identity to be protected, confirmed that seven of his 12 stolen cattle were recovered and are currently held at Lichtenburg police station as investigation continues.
Not only do rustlers steal cattle and small livestock, but they have instilled fear amongst the farmers as they threaten to kill anybody who would dare expose them to the law enforcement units. Recently in Tlhareseleele, an elderly woman was in tears, calling for stiffer penalties and long jail term sentences for rustlers before the Presidential Commission on the Inquiry into the Review of the Constitution. The woman explained how she got impoverished by one of her relatives who has been sentenced to 10 years for rustling. She further said she now lives in fear because once released from prison, he may come for her. Her wish is for rustlers to be sentenced for longer prison terms.
The calling for stiffer sentences has been made by farmers in various constituencies and Kgotla meetings where the commission has been to, thus far. Farmers also want a law to deny rustlers and those found guilty bail.
About three decades ago, the then Senior Magistrate, Abraham Keetshabe now Attorney General said that persons found guilty and convicted of stealing stock should be put in prison for long enough to allow cattle to breed. He said that cattle are the lifeblood of Batswana and that lengthy prison terms would enable cattle to procreate and multiply, whilst perpetrators are in prison.
Keetshabe said this when sentencing a Molepolole man he had just convicted of stock theft and sentenced him to a long prison term. The man would later appeal to the High Court against Keetshabe’s lengthy prison sentence but the late Chief Justice Moleleki Mokama agreed with Keetshabe on the importance of protecting livestock and giving them space to breed.
He upheld the lengthy prison sentence passed by Keetshabe indicating the importance of livestock particularly cattle to the lives of Batswana. Keetshabe was well known for taking a hard line position against criminals and would rarely grant bail to a habitual criminal. He believed that the public should be protected from marauding criminals.