Mathatisi Sebusi
THE Lesotho Mounted Police Services (LMPS) seems to be fighting a losing battle in its efforts to curb stock theft between Lesotho and South Africa as cases of livestock stealing continue to increase unabated.
Both Basotho farmers and their counterparts in South Africa say they have grown weary of the sustained surge in this particular crime with no solution appearing to be in the offing.
Farmers in South Africa’s Free State Province, which shares a long border with Lesotho are particularly gatvol. They say both the South African and Lesotho police services seem wholly incapable of containing the stock theft scourge.
Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) spokesperson, Senior Superintendent Kabelo Halahala, told this publication they were fully aware of the ever escalating livestock theft levels.
He said they were doing all in their power to patrol border posts and contain the problem.
However, despite the police’s efforts and good intentions, the Maputsoe to Maseru border area was too broad for the police to keep a watchful eye all the time.
“We are trying our best. The distance between the borders is too long and we can only do so much,” Snr-Supt Halala said.
Stock theft is particularly devastating for Lesotho as many families depend entirely on livestock farming. The Kingdom’s highlands are particularly conducive for livestock rearing. Many farmers depend on their flocks for wool and mohair which they sell internationally, to earn a living and educate their children.
T’sukuliso Lets’ela is one of the livestock farmers from Khonofaneng, Mokhotlong, which has been badly affected by livestock theft.
He owns 100 sheep and 20 goats. He lives in fear that one day he could easily wake up to a wholly empty kraal and lose his only source of livelihood.
Mr Lets’ela told the Lesotho Times over the weekend, how he had in the past three months alone, lost around 20 sheep to thieves. He said efforts to recover them had been futile. They had now come to accept animal theft as normal in the area.
“In the past three months alone, I have lost about 20 sheep to theft. My worst fear is waking up one day to an empty kraal. That would be the end of me as livestock farming is the only way I can sustain my family….,” Mr Lets’ela said.
Khonofalong area chief, Matumeliso Lets’ela, told the Lesotho Times, that herd-boys were the masterminds behind livestock theft in her area. She alleged the herd-boys crossed the borders to steal sheep and cattle from South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. The people from that province in turn launched retaliatory raids to recover their livestock and also steal from Basotho.
“These boys are the ones promoting animal theft. We sometimes wake up to kraals full of stolen cattle. When their owners come searching for them, they take even those that do not belong to them as revenge,” she said.
She said livestock theft in Khonofaneng would only stop when Lesotho herd-boys stopped stealing from South Africa.
Meanwhile, farmers from South Africa’s Free State province, have also complained that their country’s soldiers patrolling the Caledon River, which demarcated Lesotho from South Africa, were not bringing any significant changes, as their livestock got stolen in their presence.
The Free State farmers said they were tired of Lesotho nationals who skipped the border illegally to steal their livestock.
They questioned their government’s commitment towards ending the stock theft problem.
Mosela Chane, a cattle farmer staying along the banks of the Caledon River, said he survived on selling his cattle for R10,000 each. At the rate at which the cattle were being stolen, he would soon have nothing to live on, he complained.
Earlier this year Lesotho’s Ministry of Local Government, Chieftainship and Home affairs signed a memorandum of understating with the South African Police Service to fight animal theft between the two countries.
Police commissioner, Holomo Molibeli, said at the time livestock theft was a major problem between Lesotho and South Africa. It was particularly a problem in provinces like Free state, Kwazulu-Natal, and Eastern Cape, which all shared boundaries with Lesotho.
Commissioner Molibeli had announced the establishment of a department specifically tasked with combating stock theft. But the problem is not going away.
Some big names have been caught in the stock theft scourge. Prominent businessman, Lebuajoang Thebe-ea-khale was recently arrested and charged with stealing cattle from South Africa and slaughtering them for sale at an illegal abattoir in Maseru. Also arrested with him was former All Basotho Convention (ABC), Thabang Mafojane, who is alleged to stock his butchery with stolen cattle meat.
They were each released on M1, 000 bail and M25 000 surety on 10 November. It is not clear when they will appear in court again.
