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The forum’s chairman, Willie Clack, adds that whilst there is some scepticism around these figures, the reality is they come from the South African Police Services, and that remains their only source of the data.

In these latest figures, the Free State and North West have seen the largest percentage drop in stock theft cases in this period, with a 23,39% and 31,76% decline respectively. Clack cautions, however, that even though the overall case numbers are dropping, the number of animals stolen remains high and that remains a cause for concern for the forum.

The overall picture changes slightly when you focus not only on the percentages but actual number of stock theft cases reported. Then the Free State comes ahead of the North West, whilst the Eastern and Western Cape reveal a far more significant drop in cases than what the percentages suggest. The National Stock Theft Forum says that this is the first time since they have been collecting data, that South Africa has seen an overall decline in stock theft cases, with the national figures dropping by nearly 13%. The report shows that the vast majority of animals that are stolen are sheep, with nearly 200 000 stolen over 2020/21, whereas the number of cattle, as well as goats stolen, hover above 50 000.

OFM News previously reported in October 2020 that the Chairperson of the Bethlehem Agriculture Union and Security, Herkie Viljoen, told Ministers of Police as well as State and Security, Bheki Cele and Ayanda Dlodlo, that farmers in the area of the Eastern Free State around Bethlehem lose over R1 million to stock theft every month. Viljoen made a passionate plea to Cele and Dlodlo to act with urgency to curb the issues that have besieged the farming community around this area for years. The gathering came on the back of the murder of 21-year-old Brendin Horner in 2020, in what has been alleged to be a stock theft incident gone wrong. 

It’s believed that more than R800 million worth of stock goes unrecovered.

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