In addition to an area where cattle roams – not always of its own opinion – looking for grazing, police and soldiers on the border of the eastern free state with a country surrounded Lesotho must have cattle theft.
Proof of this came from the police -Minister Senzo Mchunu in response to a question from Patriotic Alliance (PA) National Meeting (NA) Public Representative, Tandiswa Marawu.
She was informed that the police dealt with 1 283 cases of stolen cattle in Ficksburg and the area in the financial year 2023/24. This is in line with what a parliamentary supervisory committee was told in October. During a supervisory visit to Eastern Free State, the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) was selected committees that are responsible for agriculture, land reform and mineral resources and economic development and trade Gate Highlands National Park, 100 km from Ficksburg, used as “corridor” To move stolen cattle, usually cattle but also horses from commercial farms, across the border.
Soldiers who have been deployed on this piece of South African country border regularly and hates cattle, goats and sheep who graze on land owned and managed by South African agri-business. In April last year, as an example, soldiers who were deployed on this border were taken from the R5 million plus from South African Pastureland on this border, the cattle of the R5 million plus and moved to either police -in seizure areas Or other suitable locations until claimed and the applicable fines and the applicable fines and the applicable fines and the applicable fines are paid.
MCHUNU assured that his questioner did not include registered police fire weapons in the 1 200 plus cattle thefts investigated in Ficksburg and the surrounding area.
He told Marawu further ‘the mandate of the [SA Police Service] Stock theft and endangered species unit is to investigate all cases of sharing theft and crimes related to endangered species, without any exception ”.
On national security and cross -border crime, Mchunu said that there were regular cross -border and bilateral operations between the free state police and the police set up on Lesotho. National security committees and stock theft forums are present at station, district and provincial level to generally deal with safety in the countryside. This includes the planning of joint operations, performing intelligence briefings, attending reported cases and giving feedback on the status of affairs to the complainants.
There are also what the ministerial answer terms “blue-white light” weekly activities in rural areas, in combination with communities and security companies in the private sector that tackles general and cross-border crime.
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