Farmers in the Bultfontein district in the Free State are discouraged by the local government and police’s handling of stray livestock. They are also concerned that the uncontrolled movement of these animals poses a risk to the district in terms of a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in the province.
By Alani Janeke, Senior Journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad
“We’ve been struggling with stray animals in our district for five years, and several serious vehicle accidents have already occurred as a result,” says Andre Janse van Rensburg, safety representative of Free State Agriculture.
“We’ve tried to involve the local municipality and police in the fight to apply the legislation. Their excuses are legion, and officials don’t regularly attend meetings set up to discuss the matter.”
Janse van Rensburg says farmers in the area also struggle to get entries in the local police station’s incident book when they report cases.
The community has made its own plan to record incidents. Records are handled by Herman van der Merwe, chief executive of AgriSec, a local security company specialising in rural security. “We regularly get excuses that officials are busy changing shifts when we call about an incident, or that there’s no one in the office who can handle recording the incident.”
Also read: FMD and stray animals: ‘The basics have to be done right’
198 Incidents in Seven Months
Farmers’ associations of Free State Agriculture record incidents, including crime in rural areas, on the Earth Ranger platform. Agri Eastern Cape and Agri Western Cape also use this platform.
Dr Jane Buys, security risk analyst, says she recently reviewed the entries for Bultfontein after a motor accident on 5 September at 05:50 when a bakkie hit stray animals. “The animals, in fact, ran into the pickup while it was moving,” says Van der Merwe. “Fortunately, no one was injured, but the vehicle was badly damaged.”
According to Buys, 198 incidents regarding stray livestock were recorded on Earth Ranger for Bultfontein between 1 February and 4 September this year. All these incidents were reported to the police telephonically, and it was requested that they be recorded in the incident book.
“A total of 96 different farmers, community members and the AgriSec Control Room brought the problem to the police’s attention, which means the entire community has a problem with this type of violation and that it poses an enormous safety risk to motorists.”
Regarding the red meat industry body’s (RMIS) request that stray animals be reported to their operational centre, Buys says they would gladly work with RMIS around these opportunities but following yet another system can become cumbersome. Dewald Olivier, chief executive of RMIS, says they would gladly work with Free State Agriculture and other provincial affiliates in terms of the systems they use.
Also read: African swine fever (ASF) outbreak highlights stray animal problem
Buys highlights the following aspects in her analysis:
- 46, or 23.23%, of the total number of incidents regarding stray animals were reported to the police during the evening or night (from 18:00 to 05:59).
- 152 incidents were reported during daytime – “which leaves one wondering whether the police or traffic officials couldn’t have done something about it?”
- In 95.45% of cases where stray animals were found in road reserves, the number of cattle was between 10 and 40 head at a time. In 127, the number of animals couldn’t be determined and was recorded as a herd.
- In 92.92% of cases, animals were found in road reserves alongside public tar roads. The rest of the incidents were in town.
- Of all 198 incidents recorded, incident book entries could only be obtained for 15. In another six incidents, it’s indicated that police were helpful, while for 72 cases, the community service centre at the police station could not be reached.
Major Problem in 30 Towns
According to Buys, stray animals are a major problem in about 30 towns in the Free State, with the problem continuously being brought to Free State Agriculture’s attention. “The lack of pounds at local municipalities worsens the problem. In the Lejweleputswa municipal district, there has been a designated pound master for decades who can impound the animals. About 20 towns’ stray animals can be impounded there. However, this doesn’t happen because problems exist at police stations and information isn’t passed on to the pound master. Incidents have also occurred where police wanted to arrest the pound master for stock theft because he wanted to impound animals grazing on road reserves.”
Buys says the police’s National Instruction (2/1999 – later changed to 3/2020) gives clear guidelines in terms of police action when stray animals are reported. These guidelines are set out in point 13 on pages 23 to 25.
The very first instruction is: “The commander of the relevant Community Service Centre or the member to whom it was reported must make an entry for this in the incident book and immediately request a police officer from the station to attend to the incident.”
Read the complete document here.
Buys says they encourage their members to obtain an incident book entry for all incidents they report. “In this case of Bultfontein, police members refuse to do this. This largely also applies to other police operations in the Free State. They are not very inclined to give an incident book entry to a farmer or member of the public.”
Also read: FMD | ‘Stray livestock pose other, bigger risks’ – experts
Free State Agriculture proposals
Buys says the following proposals were made to the police at provincial and district levels:
- Train all members of visible police units serving in the Community Service Centre about the National Instruction and how to handle reported incidents, as well as how to issue fines in terms of national road traffic legislation.
- Attempt to trace the owners of stray animals so they can be fined for animals that aren’t clearly branded.
- Ensure all stray animals are accompanied by a person who, as indicated in article 8 of the Stock Theft Act (Act no 57 of 1959), is equipped with a red flag as well as correct documentation indicating the owner/s of the livestock.
- Information must also be passed on to the Road Incident Management System under the leadership of the country’s road agency. Sanral is establishing task teams in all districts of the Free State to address the problem of stray animals in road reserves.
- All municipalities already have a bylaw under the Free State Pound Ordinance of 1954 that they must apply to establish pounds and have a fine list in place and apply it, which currently isn’t happening.
Buys says the Animals Matters Amendment Act (Act no 42 of 1993) indicates that a person whose animal, due to negligence, causes injury or death of a person, can be criminally charged and found guilty of an offence. “Many police members aren’t informed about this law and its application.”
* African Farming has directed queries to the police in Bultfontein. Comments will be updated once received.
