DA calls on SAPS to provide update on progress made in terms of stock theft prevention strategies
17 December 2020
The Democratic Alliance (DA) will ask the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Mandla Mandela, to invite the South African Police Service (SAPS) to the Committee when Parliament reconvenes to give an update on the progress made in terms of farm and rural community crime prevention.
This follows a video circulating on social media alleging that a police officer in Matatiele in the Eastern Cape made use of a police van to steal sheep from the community and transport it over the Ramatshidiso Border Post. The officer has apparently been arrested over this incident.
The full circumstances of the alleged stock theft is still unknown at this stage. The DA does however welcomes the swift arrest of the implicated police officer. We urge the local SAPS to institute a thorough investigation.
This is not the first time that police officers have been implicated in stock theft. And it is critical that those rogue officials are identified and held to account.