Namibia: Operation to Recover Cattle Flops

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New Era (Windhoek)

18 July 2008
Posted to the web 18 July 2008

Irene !Hoaes
Windhoek

An operation to recover a record 7 000 livestock that were stolen a year ago in the Khorixas area has failed. To date, most livestock owners in the region have not got their stolen animals back. The animals are still in the hands of the accused persons.

After the livestock were discovered with the help of the Di Tsâ I Mu (DIM) Stock Theft Prevention group, the animals were left at the site of discovery on the premises of the accused persons until the rightful owners could identify them.

The livestock were left under police guard at three different sites.

The police however, withdrew their guard on the animals as the operation became too expensive to sustain.

In the meantime, the accused people got bail and went back to 'their properties' and continued their normal lives with the stolen cattle.

The case is however still pending.

Identification of the cattle was problematic as brand marks on the animals were tampered with by the accused.

What initially delayed the process was the fact that people could not easily identify their animals.

A possible blood test operation was also mooted to identify the animals but this would have been a very costly exercise.

'For some or other reason, the rightful owners are also scared to further pursue the case,' said Chief Petrus Ukongo, the Coordinator of the Di Tsâ I Mu Stock Theft Prevention group in Khorixas.

He said that some of the owners of the stolen cattle claimed they were scared to reclaim their animals, fearing the accused being of the Ovahimba and Ovazemba tribes would bewitch them.

The accused come from the Opuwo area, also in the Kunene Region.

In January last year police arrested Cleophas Tjiunduwa (36), Nico Kahuku (31), Elias Munenuela (47), Kahupilo Kavi (53), Leonard Wararavi (29), Bbebeto Tjiunduva (36), Moses Kawoko (28), Mathews Tjiunduva (25) and Rutjindo Kahimua (68) in connection with a series of stock theft cases that had occurred in the Khorixas district.

Ukongo said it is a big disappointment for the DIM, after a major breakthrough, that people could get away after committing serious crime.

"We wanted the investigation to be done from outside the region, as many of the police involved in the case are also from the same area," Ukongo stated.

DIM also wanted the magistrate and the state prosecutor dealing with the case to be seconded from another region, so that the process would be fair.

Ukongo claims that the state prosecutor and the magistrate are from the same area and tribes as the accused and would thus not be partial.

"We also wanted DIM to guard the animals until they were identified by their rightful owners," added Ukongo. Inspector Petrus Shigwedha confirmed that ironically the livestock are now in the hands of the accused people.

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