THEY WANT the police to investigate cases of livestock theft by the people of Mawuleni, Port Shepstone, who complain that there are no more thieves.
In the latest incident, said to have happened on Friday, a local man, Mr. Mthobisi Cele, was given seven cows.
Narrating the incident that he likened to burying him alive, he said that his shepherd noticed in the afternoon, when the cows were coming back from the pastures, that seven of them were not seen.
He said it is a local practice that shepherds or families open the cattle from the barns, take them to the pastures, and see them in the afternoon when they return from there. He said that when they are eating in the pastures, no one is watching them.
“When it was checked in the pastures, their hooves were found, as well as the tusks, nothing else, it was clear that they were stolen by those who killed them on the spot, then they loaded their meat, and they filed papers,” said Cele.
He said he woke up from the police on Saturday morning, to file a case, and that’s when he came across the information that the day before, the police found a van, NP200, which had a flat tire in Mntentweni village, not far from Port Shepstone town.
“When he found the car empty, it was abandoned. When he looked at the back, he found there was a lot of meat and heads. When he went to show me, I found out that these were my cows that I said had gone astray,” he said.
He said the police went on to tell him that when they investigated the car that was found, it turned out that it had been reported stolen at the Durban Central police station last year.
“I am saddened that our livestock has been stolen in this way. We wish the police to do better with cases of livestock theft because we report them in the hope that someone will be arrested, but the investigation is complete in the air,” said Cele.
He said since he lost his livestock, he is the second in the family to lose in a few months.
“My uncle was killed four times at the end of last year. His were killed in the same way in the pastures. He did not find any trace. He also reported to the police but the case ended in the air,” said Cele.
He said if he remembers correctly, this is the third incident in about eight months.
“They are killed in the same place, making us think that the thieves are destroying only one people,” said Cele, who said that the way it happened, they also suspected that the thieves might be local people working with travelers.
He said that they said this because they do not have answers on where a traveler can get information about where the pastures are.
He appealed to the police not to take action on this issue because even though someone may not consider the theft of livestock to be a small matter, it is a danger to the owners. He made an example of himself, saying that these stolen cows would be worth R120 000 if they were sold.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson, Captain Ntathu Ndlovu, said the Mehlomnyama police are investigating a case of livestock theft following the theft of seven cows in Mawuleni.
“The investigation by the police and the community led to Ndundumeni where it was found that the cows had been cut open, leaving only the horns and hooves,” said Capt Ndlovu, who said that no one has been arrested yet.