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“Mukhulu umonakalo la eveni

MBABANE(there is s lot going wrong in the country).”

This was an observation of former Animal Health Inspector Stephen Khumalo after investigating the theft of five cattle, which were eventually sold to the Swaziland Meat Wholesalers at Ngwenya.

Khumalo was roped in by the police during the course of the investigations.

He shared that the outcomes of the investigations when testifying against Mabutfo Lukhele and Paulos Mbhamali, who were accused of stealing and selling livestock at the meat wholesalers last year.

The duo is accused of stealing and selling five cattle that were stolen at Nkhube, an area situated at the margin of Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary.

Khumalo told the court that the investigation uncovered that the ear tags and the stock removal permits were not corresponding with the cattle that were sold at the meat wholesalers. He stated that they discovered that the there were only two original stock removal permits among the five, which were used to transfer the cattle. Khumalo told the court that two of the stock removal permits were typed from a computer, while the other one was handwritten.

He submitted that only original stock removal permits were required for transfer of cattle in the country.

“Hand written permits are acceptable in transfer of goats, sheep, horses, pigs and donkeys. We also discovered that some of the ear tags were forged in that they had some small pins made out of sticks,” he submitted.

Khumalo stated that the stock removal permits pointed out that Lukhele applied for the stock removal permit on behalf of residents of Mankayane in the Manzini Region yet the cattle were stolen in the Hhohho Region.

He told the court that the stock removal permits pointed out that the cattle were transferred to Makhubeni Dip Tank situated at Motshene. Khumalo informed the court that Makhubeni Dip Tank was used by the abattoir.

Permits

He further told the court that only livestock owners were allowed to apply for the stock removal permits. He mentioned that livestock owners furnished the veterinary assistants with the required details such as the buyer and dip tank number as well as the colour of the animal. However, he stated that because they were human and considered that some of the livestock owners could not walk to the vetnary offices, they allowed the senior citizens to send representatives. He said the vetnary assistants required an affidavit and the personal identity card from the livestock owner before processing the stock removal permits.

“We also confirm with the livestock owners because we have their numbers in the system,” he submitted.

“We concluded that there was a lot going wrong in the country. We also concluded that the livestock was unlawfully transferred to the meat wholesalers as the stock removal permits were fraudulent,” Khumalo told the court. The matter continues.