Snl24 | Madalas declare war on stock theft!

Metsi-Matsho Village King, Nfanelo Pondo. Photo by Joseph Mokoaledi

ANTI-STOCK THEFT patrollers at Metsi-Matsho Village in the Free State had a fruitful three-day conference aimed at coming up with new strategies to combat crime after police allegedly showed them the middle finger.

Approximately 50 men, mostly elders, from the village held a meeting at the weekend to find effective ways to deal with stock theft and other crimes, including gender-based violence.

The patrollers resolved that every man, who owns animals in the village, should stay awake during the night.

They also discussed immediate implementation of traditional governance, where Kings have the power to reprimand criminals and impose bylaws in the village.

Lazarus Radebe (72), one of the oldest patrollers, said they have launched what they call the Jackal ‘Mopheme’ campaign to fight crime and take crime suspects to the Village King for possible traditional prosecution, which won’t involve the police.

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Community member, Lazarus Radebe (72), one of the oldest parollers at Metsi-Matsho Village, said they have launched the Jackal ‘Mopheme’ campaign. Photo by Joseph Mokoaledi

“Police have never been useful to us. We’ve experienced severe damage caused by stock thieves. We’ve been losing stock to criminals until we decided to stand up and take things into our own hands,” said Lazarus.

“We don’t have cops in our area. We have, several times, exchanged fire with stock thieves.”

The Village King, Nfanelo Pondo, told Daily Sun the establishment of patrollers is a blessing in disguise.

“We’ve achieved a lot since the inception of the patrollers. The rate of stock theft has drastically declined. And it was done without the cops’ involvement. I’ve been shot while waiting for police to send manpower to stop cattle from being stolen,” said the Village King.

Jubere Lephoto, chairman of the stock theft patrollers, said they had a fruitful men’s conference in which resolutions were taken primarily to end crime in the village.

The anti-stock theft men’s conference resolved to exclude cops and deal decisively with the stock theft. Photo by Joseph Mokoaledi

“We’ve resolved that every man in the village should participate in this pilot project of restructuring our village on our own. We didn’t appoint anyone. We’re all volunteers because the issue of electing people will put them in the spotlight and they’ll be targeted by criminals,” Lephoto said.

The village is on the edge of the Drakensberg mountains towards Bergville in KZN, where stock theft has been a serious challenge for residents.

Patrollers said there’s been an illegal stock theft market between the Free State, Lesotho, and KZN in the mountains, and the police know about it.

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