Stock theft cost R3.6bn
2004-06-09 22:14
Nelspruit - Increasingly sophisticated stock theft and violent rural crime have cost South Africa's sheep farmers an estimated R3.6bn over the past five years, the National Wool Growers Association (NWGA) warns.
The staggering losses have driven almost 30% of local sheep farmers out of business or into alternative, "safer" types of farming, said NWGA Mpumalanga manager Johannes Klopper this week.
"Stock farmers are being systematically targeted by criminals, and the impact has been dramatic. South Africa used to produce 160 million kilograms of raw wool five years, earning R4.8bn," said Klopper.
"But, uncontrolled crime has seen this productivity plummet to just 40 million kilogrammes last year, with revenue down to R1.2bn. Those losses translate into lost jobs, and broken dreams."
The losses are primarily cased by rampant stock theft by organised gangs of butchers who, Klopper claims, herd off hundreds of sheep per raid for immediate slaughter and sale in local townships.
"Mpumalanga currently has the worst cattle and sheep theft statistics in South Africa, with official losses last year of over 13 000 sheep and 7 000 cattle," said Klopper.
With each sheep worth an average R700 and each milk cow roughly R5 000, the thefts alone have cost farmers R44.1m over the past 12 months.
"It isn't just the financial losses though that are driving farmers out of the business. It's the brutal violence. These thieves mutilate and torture the animals, breaking their legs or tying them up so tight with wire that they literally slowly cut the animals in half while still alive," said Klopper.
Most of the stolen animals are driven into nearby thick bush, where they are slaughtered and the meat sold at township butcheries or simply sold from the backs of vehicles at pension payout points.
Wool industry at stake
"The sad thing is that these sheep are bred for their wool, not as meat animals. They're destroying a valuable resource that is used to create all kinds of industries further down the production line, from wool factories, to clothing suppliers, fabric shops, and even furniture shops," said Klopper.
"If the wool industry collapses, then so do the people we supply."
The worst-hit regions in Mpumalanga are Carolina, Badplaas, Ermelo, Belfast, Volksrust, Bethal and Amersfoort.
Willie Schoeman, owner of Paardeplaas Farm for 17 years, lost 40 sheep last Friday.
On adjacent farms, 60 sheep were stolen on the same day.
Agri-Mpumalanga chairperson of law and order Kannie Erichsen said the farmers were working closely with police and the defence force to stop the stock theft.
Police arrested 119 stock theft suspects last year.
Farmers have been advised to erect security fences and brand their stock so that they are easy to identify.