Govt responsible for stocktheft – Chief

ised by police to launch the district anti-stocktheft initiative at Figtree, about 30km southwest of Bulawayo, Chief Malaki Masuku, said most of the cases of stocktheft were being committed by hungry newly-resettled villagers who faced starvation in their homes due to very low yields.
“I know some of the people that are behind this (stocktheft) crime because I have tried some of them and even chased others from my area of jurisdiction. People just came here without adequate resources to till the virgin land, most of which was being used for cattle grazing and now they are finding it difficult to feed their families. That is why they have resorted to stealing cattle for resale in Bulawayo,” said the traditional leader.
He said the government should have at least provided tractors for use by the resettled villagers in tilling the land in their maiden season, as most of them moved to their new homes with only a few weeks remaining before the start of the agricultural season.
“Even now most people here are still failing to till the land because they do not have draught power to do so. I do not condone stocktheft but I am only exposing the main reason behind it. We are not going anywhere if we just talk about police arresting the criminals without looking at the causes of the high rate of the crime. We are just as good as wasting our precious time because people will continue stealing the cattle or abetting the rustlers,” he added.
According to crime statistics read by police’s deputy officer commanding Matabeleland South province, Assistant Commissioner Loveness Ndanga, 326 cases of stocktheft were recorded in the district since the beginning of the year, which marks a 12 percent increase from last year’s figures for the same period.
“In these cases, 977 herds of cattle, 242 goats, 26 sheep and 81 donkeys were stolen among other stock. Police only managed to recover 170 cattle, 60 goats, 10 sheep and 37 donkeys from locals,” he said.
Chief Masuku said the resettlement programme had brought into the district some people with questionable backgrounds, who have taken advantage of the chaos that followed the programme to “push their selfish agendas” and feast on other people’s stock. – Own correspondent