Qoboshiyane: Livestock owners do not care about their animals

Some black livestock owners do not care about their animals, Eastern Cape Rural Development and Agrarian Reform MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane said on Wednesday.

If they did, there would not be increasingly more livestock straying onto roads in rural villages and urban areas where black people lived, he said in a statement.

The provincial livestock population was “facing extinction” because of their owners’ behaviour, which he said was criminal. Such careless behaviour was lamentable because a sheep could fetch up to R1500, a goat R1500, and cattle about R10 000 each.

The province had an estimated 3.6 million cattle, 8 million sheep, 450 000 dogs, and 350 000 horses.

Qoboshiyane said it was clear that grazing next to roads was owned by people who did not care about their animals’ well-being and safety.

“We cannot allow a situation where people die because of the carelessness of other people who own livestock.”

He called on livestock owners to take better care of their animals, make sure they did not graze next to roads, and that there was a shepherd looking after them. It appeared that confiscating stray livestock was no deterrent. He called on people to report stray animals to the SPCA in a bid to prevent accidents.

“We don’t want to see any more accidents and deaths caused by straying livestock. This must end now.”

Thulani Gqirana, News24