David Bayley is most known in the research area of policing interventions to reduce crime, based on this opening paragraph in the book Police for the future written in 1994:
“The police do not prevent crime. This is one of the best-kept secrets of modern life. Experts know it, the police know it, but the public does not know it. Yet the police pretend that they are society’s best defence against crime and continually argue that if they are given more resources, especially personnel, they will be able to protect communities against crime. This is a myth”.
Bayley a distinguished professor in the field, made this statement but as many who criticised his statement, later concluded that the statement must be read in context. Without reading the whole book you will be on a road to nowhere. However, this statement is a 100% illustration of the emotions of farmers in South Africa regarding crime with specific reference to livestock theft which is still the most prevalent crime of all in farming communities. The Afrikaans word “gatvol” used randomly describes the feeling more comprehensively.
Digesting Bayley’s comment when reading statements like we are under-resourced, we do not have enough equipment etc – the public should retaliate by asking how productive the police are, are all officers employed performing or are they merely collecting a salary and complain about resources. Irrespective of this criticism the National Stock Theft Prevention Forum (NSTPF), wishes to thank those police officers that do make sacrifices for their commitment to the community in rural areas.
Nevertheless, after the NSTPF’s last meeting on 18 May 2022, the Minister of Police released the crime statistics on 3 June 2022 which are addressed below.
NATIONAL LIVESTOCK THEFT STATISTICS 2021/2022
The South African Police Service currently release crime statistics on a quarterly basis. These statistics are a compilation of the yearly statistics per province for the years indicated.
Figure 1 Livestock Theft Increase/Decrease per Province 2020/21 to 2021/22
The national overall decrease in reported livestock theft cases for the period is -5.75%.
The information in Figure 1 must be seen in context as the provinces with large decreases in livestock theft eg Western Cape, Northern Cape and Gauteng come from a much lower base than the other provinces. In the Eastern Cape, we do see a decrease of 18.68% which is significant as it does represent 1 102 fewer cases than the previous year and represents 71% of the total decrease in the country.
For the provinces that experienced an increase, the same applies as the increase in Limpopo represents 7% of the total increase in the country.
Figure 2: Number of livestock stolen from 2017 to 2022 and the increase/decrease for the last year.
In table 1 below, summarise the economic loss inflicted by livestock theft.
Table 1: Economic loss for the red meat industry
|
|
2017/2018 |
2018/2019 |
2019/2020 |
2020/2021 |
2021/2022 |
|
Stolen |
R1 142 385 600 |
R1 214 427 000 |
R1 179 458 600 |
R1 107 644 600 |
R1 156 683 159 |
|
Recovered |
R 95 718 800 |
R 307 346 600 |
R 311 642 000 |
R 263 040 800 |
R 247 256 052 |
|
Loss |
R 324 100 800 |
R 907 080 400 |
R 867 816 600 |
R 844 603 800 |
R 909 427 107 |
The information in Table 1 creates a dire picture of the economic losses for the red meat industry. It must be noted that although the number of animals reported as stolen, decreased in the past financial year, the value of livestock increased on average by 11% over the past year. Give or take, the farming community is suffering a loss of more than one billion rand per year due to livestock theft.
Considering that the figures and numbers provided in this statement only cover reported cases, the eyebrows raise when 80% of livestock theft cases are not reported.
