Farm theft costs SA’s economy R7.5bn annually, yet the government and country is seemingly unable to stop the crime.
The alarming economical cost of agricultural crimes, which has been researched by Agri-SA and the University of South Africa, comes as the country is gripped by a surge in violent crimes against emerging and established farmers.
The murder of Free State farm manager Brendin Horner, 21, and the violent attack on the Senekal Magistrate’s Court by farmers during the appearance by his two alleged killers has brought farm-related crimes into sharp focus. On Friday, the suspects are expected to appear in court again, with EFF supporters vowing to protest outside.
Also this week, Free State farmer Andries Myburgh, 31, was attacked, doused with petrol and set alight while investigating a fire on his farm. His attackers escaped as Myburgh jumped into a swimming pool to extinguish the flames. He suffered minor injuries.
Agri-SA executive director Christo van Rheeder said crime in the agricultural sector was “completely out of control”.
“We are not just talking about violent attacks. We are talking of wide-scale theft and looting, which hurts not just established farmers, but also emerging farmers.
“These crimes pose a direct threat to SA’s food supply.”
He said their research showed how stock theft and theft of farming infrastructure had hit crisis level.
“Theft from farms costs the economy about R5bn. The replacement costs amount to R2.7bn.
“The thieves are going for whatever they can steal, including livestock and critical infrastructure such as water pumps, piping and electrical cabling. The theft of diesel is rampant.”
Often they disembowel the animal so it is easier for them to carry the carcass. This often happens while the animal is still alive.
Top of a farm thief’s shopping list was livestock.
“Alarmingly, we have seen an increase in the maiming of animals, which thieves are unable to escape with.
“They will cut off the legs of animals they cannot escape with. Often they disembowel the animal so it is easier for them to carry the carcass. This often happens while the animal is still alive.”
Van Rheeder said not only were livestock farmers at risk from thieves, but also fruit and maize farmers.
“These crimes are driven by organised gangs. With an army of people they strike at night, stripping entire fields bare.
“A one-hectare field can be stripped in a matter of hours. A big problem is the damage caused to the trees and plants.”
It could take up to three years before a highly productive fruit tree, which had been damaged by thieves, started producing again.
Willie Clack, National Livestock Theft Prevention Forum chairperson and a senior lecturer at Unisa’s school of criminal justice, said there was a definite rise in livestock theft.
“There is a 10-year cycle. We are currently in the upward swing.”
The problem of stock theft was compounded by massive under-reporting of the crime by farmers and the huge number of farmers, commercial and communal, who did not mark their animals.
“In general over 80% of livestock are unmarked.”
He said the 2011 victim of crimes survey showed the non-reporting rate for stock theft was 36%.
“It is now up nearly 80%. While the reporting of stock theft has decreased dramatically, livestock theft has increased.”
He said if one did not report the crime police did not know where to allocate resources.
“The ultimate impact of non-reporting and non-tagging is that the country will not be able to get a handle on this crime.”
Clack said that in terms of stock theft the hot spots were the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the eastern Free State.
“Police stations in these areas will often have at least 200 cases of stock theft per police station.
“In the eastern Free State it is commercial farmers who bear the brunt of the theft. In KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape it is communal farmers on the receiving end.”
Highly organised crime syndicates were behind stock theft.
He said highly organised crime syndicates were behind stock theft.
“In 87% of the cases, organised crime gangs are involved. The remaining 13% of theft is ‘theft for the pot’.”
Clack said livestock was targeted by organised crime gangs “because the animals never lose their value”.
Annually R1.2bn worth of livestock – which was 1% of the annual turnover from livestock in SA – was stolen.
“With the shutting of animal auctioneers between November 2019 and February 2020 because of foot-and-mouth disease, there was a big drop in stock theft.
“While auctioneers have significantly ramped up their screening processes for stolen animals, they are still a big problem with lots of stolen livestock going through their doors as well as the doors of illegal slaughterhouses.”
Black Farmers Association of South Africa national chairperson Brenda Banda said crime against farmers was at a crisis level.
“What is happening out there – the theft of livestock, fencing, pumps and electrical cables – is a nightmare. The crime that we see, which is worsening, severely impacts on our country’s sovereignty and food security.”
“Criminals attack farms, farm workers and farmers because they are criminals and because they want what’s on a farm, be it livestock, valuables or weapons. They are not attacking farms because some people are white and some are black. They do not care about colour.”
Banda said that if the government wanted to ensure food security it needed to invest in protecting farmers.
“If you look at the crime that is affecting farmers, the one thing that you do not see is farmers fighting farmers. We are all farmers and we all bleed and hurt when attacked. We feel for each other when one is hurt or attacked. We, as farmers, are all suffering.”
She called for a collective meeting between the government, the agricultural sector and the country’s rural communities to devise strategies and find solutions on how to protect the rural areas.
“The former commandos, who were experts in protecting the rural areas, who had the right rural security training and skills to fight rural crimes, and who had an understanding of how to protect such communities, be they black or white, should be brought back,” she said.
Western Cape: fruit and wheat farms;
Eastern Cape: livestock farms;
Northern Cape: livestock farms;
KwaZulu-Natal: sugar cane, nut and cattle farms;
Limpopo: fruit and avocado farms;
Mpumalanga: fruit, nut, livestock and maize farms; and
North West: maize farms.
— Farm thieves' favourite targets
According to Agri SA's research:
70% of commercial farmers have experienced crime;
33% of commercial agricultural farmers experienced an increase in crime over the past three years;
KwaZulu-Natal experienced the highest instances of agricultural crime, followed by Mpumalanga and North West;
The Northern Cape is least effected by agricultural crime;
Mpumalanga is severely affected by malicious damage to farm property and theft of farming equipment;
Financial losses from field crop theft are predominant in Gauteng, Limpopo, and the Northern and Eastern Cape;
The Free State, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape are severely affected by livestock theft;
KwaZulu-Natal is severely affected by game and crop theft, trespassing, and illegal hunting and grazing;
Limpopo is severely affected by burglary, theft of agricultural machinery and inputs such as fertilisers and seeds;
Livestock theft is SA’s most prevalent agricultural crime, followed by infrastructure theft (37.21%), farm equipment theft (34.74%), game theft and illegal hunting (28.51%), and armed robbery (25%);
Only 25% of farmers reported all crimes to the police and 52% reported some crimes.
— Farm crime trends
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