09 Oct 2016

Police in Takatokwane are holding a 34-year-old native of the village in connection with 25 heads of cattle found in a kraal at Maseru settlement near Takatokwane.

In an interview, Takatokwane police station commander, Supt Ocean Maraganyane said they received a tip off from some residents on September 26 about the suspicious cattle.

“Those who reported to us said they became suspicious after realising that the said cattle were only watered at night and their kraal was hidden in the bush. After the report, we raided the kraal in the early hours of September 28 where we found them,” he said.

Supt Maraganyane said most of them were calves and that on enquiry, the suspect could not give an explanation on how he came to own only calves without their mothers. He said the suspect, who just recently completed another jail term for stock-theft, was currently in their custody and expected to appear for mention at the magistrate’s court soon.

He also said four owners had already identified their cattle, while the rest were still unidentified. Concerning the general overview of stock-theft in the area, Supt Maraganyane said it fluctuates from time to time.

“We can go for months without any reported case only to receive about four cases in a single month. At the moment we have registered 12 cases of stock-theft since the beginning of this year to September involving a total of 43 cattle,” he said.

He however, said that it was for the first time in about three years that they encounter a single case involving so many heads of cattle as most of the cases involve just around four or five cows.

Supt Maraganyane said that as the police, they had in the past gone around the area addressing farmers on the importance of taking proper care of their cattle and branding them well in time.

“We have noted with concern that some farmers leave everything to their herdsmen. Some of the cattle owners we are talking about didn’t even realise that their cattle were missing until we contacted them for identification,” he said.

He said most of the farmers whose cattle have been impounded come from the cattle-posts around Dutlwe village. ENDS