For several years, rural communities in Nigeria's Zamfara state have been under siege from gangs of cattle rustlers who carry out deadly raids on herding communities to kill, loot and burn homes. File image.
A cattle herder not only faces criminal charges, but has lost his bakkie, which he used to transport cattle he had allegedly stolen from his employer.
The High Court in Pretoria this week granted an order declaring North West cattle herder Moshe Selemoseng’s Toyota Hilux bakkie forfeited to the state and authorising the sale of the vehicle for the benefit of the Criminal Assets Recovery Account.
The police attended a cattle auction at Schweizer Reneke Auctioneers in August last year after receiving information about the sale of alleged stolen cattle.
Selemoseng was arrested after the auctioneer confirmed that four cattle sold by Selemoseng did not belong to him, but to his employer, North West farmer Gobogamang Masenti.
Masenti had sent his son to the auction to search for his cattle, suspecting that Selemoseng was involved in the theft. His son noticed the cattle herder at the auction and found he had already sold the cattle.
When confronted, Selemoseng claimed he was simply hired by a third person, called Thabang, to transport the cattle to the auction, but Thabang could not be found and Selemoseng failed to explain whey he had proceeded to sell the cattle when he was simply hired to transport it.
The auctioneer cancelled the sale because of the dispute about ownership of the cattle.
The cattle were then taken to the Lichtenburg pound, where Selemoseng’s erstwhile employer identified the cattle as his property, which had been branded with his special brand marking.
A security company later confirmed that Selemoseng’s bakkie that he used to transport the cattle in, was sold to him by them.
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