20 Jan 2020

Residents of Gobojango, through their village development committee, have called on Bobirwa Subordinate Council to consider contacting livestock owners individually before concluding that their livestock were matimela (stray livestock) and ultimately auctioning them.

Speaking during a kgotla meeting addressed by Member of Parliament for Bobonong Constituency, Mr Taolo Lucas, Gobojango VDC member, Mr Michael Masilo said the department of veterinary services had a database of all cattle brands and as such could help council identify stray livestock owners before holding them at the council facility at Lepokole.

They further argued that if need be, farmers could be fined a fee instead of holding their livestock at a faraway facility and ultimately auctioning them much to the pain of a struggling subsistence farmer.

As part of the solutions they tabled was that livestock deemed stray could be kept at the village kgotla kraal for identification by the villagers before being transferred to council facility at Lepokole.

For ease of identification, the villagers argued, there should be heightened publicity on the stray cattle because some farmers could be out there, searching for their livestock that could be in the hands of council officials.

Kept at the village kgotla facility, Mr Masilo argued that there would be an amplified publicity about the livestock, especially by word of mouth.

The residents believe that taking livestock to Lepokole would be a costly exercise for  farmers.

They also complained that reducing the period of keeping livestock at council facility from six months to three months impacted negatively on subsistence farmers because, as they argue, not much publicity is made regarding the held livestock for their inspection. Ends