The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
IT is around 4pm and a group of cattle herders in the Mabhiza area of Chipinge South are driving their cattle from Save River back to their homesteads across the Tanganda-Ngungu highway.
Unbeknown to the cattle herders, two beasts go astray.
The development is only noticed upon arrival at home well after sunset and it is too late to search for them.
The next day, a painful and sad reality is revealed.
The two cattle have been slaughtered and deboned, with their carcasses being the only evidence of a crime committed by criminals that can hardly be traced.
Such incidences are not peculiar to Mabhiza but are now rampant across the length and breadth of Manicaland, especially along border lying areas in Chipinge, Chimanimani, Honde Valley, Burma Valley and Nyanga.
Even though the available statistics from the Veterinary Services Department point to a steady increase in the provincial heard, with a total of 595 000 cattle for the year ending 2017 rising up to 602 000 by the end of 2022, it is crystal clear that stock theft is reversing the province’s efforts to grow the provincial herd even further.
What is worsening the situation are cases of cross border stock theft whereby cattle stolen can hardly be recovered after being driven to communities along the other side of the border in neighbouring Mozambique.
Mr Taembedzwa Musademba, a villager in border lying Mabee, Chipinge South said: “We are going through difficult times as we are losing our cattle to thieves.
“This has been happening for a long time but it appears to be on an increase in recent months. We have tried to brand our cattle but the challenge is that once they cross the border, it becomes difficult to trace them.
“They are also slaughtering the cattle and deboning them, therefore branding becomes an ineffective way of combating stock theft,” said Mr Musademba.
Manicaland police spokesperson, Inspector Nobert Muzondo said communities living along the border need to be more protective of their cattle.
“People who live along the border need to start looking at their livestock as real money, real wealth, so that they guard it jealously.
“In recent months we have experienced a sharp increase in cases of stock theft, with stolen cattle being driven into Mozambique, while others are slaughtered and deboned. Deboning makes branding ineffective since the perpetrators just carry the meat and leave behind everything else.
“There is need for communities in these areas to do more in protecting their livestock. We have had cases of negligence by farmers, with stock thieves literally hunting in their kraals while they are asleep.
“They need to come up with simple security measures that include keeping dogs and collective cattle penning. Village anti-stock theft committees can also go a long way in assisting to combat this challenge,” said Inspector Muzondo.
Chief Animal Health Inspector for Manicaland, Mr Roy Dube said: “Stock theft results in loss of draught power, reduced production in the fields, stagnant herds, loss of income and stress related illnesses, especially among the elderly.
“Other concerns are centred on the fact that the new method of stealing cattle (deboning them) renders branding ineffective.
“Stock theft can also aid in spreading diseases as cattle are moved from one area to another, especially if the source is under quarantine for particular diseases.”
All these issues are detrimental to efforts to grow the national herd.
