MUSHANGARA – The Namibian Police on Saturday handed back the stolen 54 cattle to their lawful owners after days of being missing.
The cattle were stolen after a cattle herder was overpowered by goons who drove them into Angola.
The police said the cattle herder was tied and kidnapped along with the cattle. He was later released, walked back to Namibia and delivered the news of what transpired. He was unharmed. The cattle were handed back to their owners on Saturday at Mushangara police station, situated along the Namibia/Angola border post within the Bwabwata National Park.
The animals were initially vaccinated before the handing-over against possible contagious bovine diseases by the State.
“The initial number of 87 was not accurate. We recovered 54 of them, and two remained in Angola as they could not walk. The area where they were recovered is deep in Angola. The suspects abandoned the cattle after noticing that they were being pursued. They were recovered with the assistance of security forces. As you know, we have joint operations that we always conduct with our neighbouring countries such as Angola, Zambia and Botswana,” Kavango East crime investigations’ coordinator, Deputy Commissioner Bonifatius Kanyetu said.
He noted that the Namibian Police relayed the information to their counterparts in Angola, and they assisted them, along with the cattle owners. “The joint efforts were fruitful, and we are lucky to have the 54 cattle back,’’ he stated.
New Era was informed by the cattle owners that on Sunday 11 May, they went to track their cattle as they didn’t have time to wait for the security forces to make arrangements. But through the joint efforts with Angolan authorities, they were back safely.
Kanyetu said there is a need to properly screen cattle herders before hiring them, and that regular verification of stock is necessary to detect missing livestock early enough.
“It’s a very big concern. We should screen our cattle herders before hiring them, and they should do stock verification at least once a month.
Every time you pay your cattle herders, verify the number of your cattle because that is also what caused the confusion in terms of the actual number of the stolen cattle in this case. Cattle owners are not verifying according to required standards of the Stock Theft Act,” Kanyetu said. He strongly recommended that cattle owners must ensure that their cattle have correct stock brands and ear tags for them to be identified easily, saying from the ones they recovered, only two had ear tags on.
Police also suspect that cattle which do not have tags might have had these removed by the suspects.
One of the owners, Augustinus Kavindja Diyeve, said he lives at Diyogha village and his animals are at his cattle post in the Mushangara area, a community within the Bwabwata National Park bordering Angola.
He elucidated that the cattle belonged to three owners. On the day the cattle were stolen, they were all herded by his stockman, as the other workers were not well.
“On Saturday, 10 May, I was informed at night that the herder and my cattle had not returned and by morning, he was not yet back. Together with others who also lost their cattle on that given day, we went to report the incident to the police,’’ he added.
“Tracing them, we discovered that they set up a temporary kraal every night as they were moving with our cattle. We reached a point where one was unable to move and looked unwell, so me and one of the guys brought it back, while the others followed the tracks deep into Angola. After days of walking back, the three of us arrived on Wednesday night at Mushangara,’’ Diyeve said.
“We are grateful to our law-enforcement. Although they got the report late, they managed to engage their counterparts for assistance. We appreciate the efforts made,’’ he beamed.