Willie Clack News Today

Criminal intent and socio-economic desperation rather than racial hatred are behind many farm attacks in South Africa.

With cases of stock theft having more than doubled in Humansdorp year on year, one farmer not only lost a dozen sheep but also three highly specialised sheepdogs in the past four months.

Stock theft has been an ongoing and violent criminal activity within the province. The victims are commonly rural subsistence farmers as it is known they have scarce resources when it comes to guarding their livestock, especially cattle.

Members of one of East London's most prominent farming families say they are considering leaving the land they have farmed for five generations after they were again targeted by stock thieves.

Despite an encouraging decrease in stock theft cases in the Eastern Cape over the past year, agricultural experts and farmers’ bodies say the scourge — which cost the sector more than R900m nationally in the 2021/2022 financial year — is being heavily underreported.

Farmers sleep with one eye open as stock theft costs SA R1.4bn annually By Bongani Hans Share DURBAN - LIVESTOCK theft is costing the South African economy about R1.4 billion annually, said Willie Clack, the national chairperson of the National Stock Theft Prevention Forum (NSTPF). As a result of the damages caused by this crime to the agricultural industry, NSTPF said it would always consider livestock theft as “serious” irrespective of decreases in the crime. “It does have a serious imp...