Cross-border cattle rustlers cause havoc

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WITH grief etched on his face, a devastated Tsakilani Hahlimani (45) supports his head with one hand, utterly shocked and seemingly pondering his next move while staring at his empty kraal.

WITH grief etched on his face, a devastated Tsakilani Hahlimani (45) supports his head with one hand, utterly shocked and seemingly pondering his next move while staring at his empty kraal.

TATENDA CHITAGU OWN CORRESPONDENT

His six cattle, a status symbol in the conservative Shangaan community, were stolen in the dead of night.

“I could not believe my eyes when I woke up and followed my usual routine of moving around my homestead . . . All that I have worked for, including some cattle I inherited from my father, are gone,” Hahlimani at a village in Chief Sengwe on the border with Mozambique, said.

“I have no other source of income since I used to sell some of the cattle to raise money for school fees for my five children, some of secondary school going age.”

Cattle rustling is a serious problem in border-lying areas. Many people have lost their livestock to thriving cross-border crime. Once stolen, chances of recovering the cattle are very slim.

“They might as well be in neighbouring Mozambique as we speak now and may have been either sold or slaughtered by now,” Hahlimani says.

“It is very near from this side and the thieves take advantage of the porous borders in the rugged mountains between Zimbabwe and Mozambique.”

He said local criminals worked with Mozambican syndicates that hide loot in that country.

“This cannot be the work of foreign criminals alone. They are working closely with local thieves. They study the area before they pounce.”

Other villagers alleged that because their villages were along the border with Mozambique, it was easy for cross-border rustling since animals were driven for shorter distances.

The situation, they said, was not helped by the fact that some locals had relatives in Mozambique who allegedly would conceal stolen consignments and livestock on the other side of the border with relative ease.

The absence of a border fence was also fuelling cattle rustling.

There is no fence in some parts of the 1 231km border leading to the Sango border post.

Higher prices offered for cattle in Mozambique also worsened the situation.

Battle-hardened cattle rustlers motivated by the illicit trade cross the rugged terrain into Mozambique.

The nearest police station is at Chikombedzi, about 120km away and most villagers have no easy access to the station.

And when they report, given the time it takes to get there, cattle rustlers might not be detected by the time the police start searching.

The police just like any other sector in the economy are hard hit.

They sometimes have no vehicle and when they do, it is either they have no fuel or it is broken down.

Several other villagers, as well as other people visiting the Lowveld town of Chiredzi have also lost cars to armed robberies.

Most people have lost 4×4 trucks such as Isuzus and Toyotas, among other assets.

The hardest hit are sugarcane farmers.

Zimbabwe Sugar Milling Industry Workers Union (Zismiwu) donated motorbikes, generators, laptops, printers and office equipment worth $30 000 to the Chiredzi Central Police Station in January to enhance their capacity to fight crime.

Zismiwu secretary-general Admore Hwarare said the donation was meant to equip the police to fight increasing cross-border crime.

“Farmers are being robbed and police reaction is slow as some of the police posts in the remote areas are ill-equipped. We tried to strengthen their policing efforts in the collective fight against crime,” he said.

According to 2013 police figures, Masvingo province recorded an increase in cases of armed robbery and stocktheft.

A total of 38 cases of armed robbery were recorded against the 2012 figure of 28 cases, showing a 36% increase.

Cases of stocktheft rose by 6% from 1 726 cases in 2012 to 1 834 in 2013, according to police statistics.

Underfunding has made it difficult for the police to patrol border-lying areas effectively.

The loss of livestock not only has a negative impact on the economy, but is especially traumatic for villagers as it threatens their economic survival.

Zimbabwe’s Home Affairs ministry and Mozambican counterparts have held a number of meetings to address the livestock theft problem, but villagers said this has not yielded anything.