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would leave the beasts to trek back home while he turned to Nematombo beerhall at Katenhe Township for a few “scuds”.
Of course, this was not the only instance in which he would trust his beasts’ homing instincts, for even after ploughing in the fields, he would do the same, allowing his oxen Boferi and Mapurazi to travel for more than three kilometres in search of water unherded.

After the harvesting period, he would allow his entire herd to spend days away from home and would only look for them when some tasks that demanded draught power cropped up.
In most cases he would find his beasts within a radius of two kilometres and this was the chief reason why he trusted his beasts most.
The practice only proved costly one night, when some callous cattle rustlers came across the entire herd and drove it to a secluded spot near Nyamabizi Farm some 20km away.
The rustlers slaughtered Boferi and Mapurazi during on that fateful night.

Whether they did it to raise meat for their own consumption, or for sale to food outlets and butcheries in Karoi or Magunje, it’s now all water under the bridge.
Only recovered and positively identified were the decapitated heads of Boferi and Mapurazi that were in an advanced state of decomposition while the whereabouts of the rest of the beasts is still a mystery up to now.
Since then everyone in Joga village has become more careful with their cattle.

While some farmers may take it as fashionable to leave their cattle to roam free and wild during this time of the year, they should always remember that the practice only endorses the cattle-rustling business, which also proliferates during this period.
On August 3, this year, two Hurungwe farmers were each slapped with an 18-year jail term by Karoi magistrate Mr Archibald Dingana.
The two were convicted after they pleaded guilty to stealing six beasts from a fellow farmer.

Had it not been the police’s quick reaction to the matter, definitely Neverson Maregere (34) of Eldorado farm and Sylvester Magidhigidhi (25) of Andeline Farm could have succeeded in disposing the beasts for some good cash.
Whether by selling them to some crooked cattle buyers or by slaughtering them and supplying meat to notorious butchers and food outlet owners.

Police discovered the beasts after torrid moments of wading through some thicket in Magidhigidhi’s plot where the cattle had carefully been tethered and hidden.
The beasts, an ox, two cows, a steer and two calves were fortunately recovered after police received a tip-off.
Magidhidhi and Maregere’s botched deal was hatched on July 30 this year.
Acting in common purpose the two went to Deerwood farm in the Tengwe area and stole the six beasts belonging to fellow farmer Mr Dumisani Maregere.

The cattle were stolen while they roamed free during the night.
Officer Commanding Police Hurungwe District, Chief Superintendent Justin Mandizha, has called on members of the community to herd and pen their cattle daily as most thieves of the calibre of Magidhigidhi and company were targeting cattle which roamed free. Chief Supt Mandizha said the district had recorded a sharp increase in cases of stock theft during the last two weeks of July this year, and this was most attributable to the vulnerability of stock that was unherded during this time of the year.
He also said it was through herding cattle that stock theft levels could be curbed especially at this time of the year when beasts could easily travel long distances in search of better pastures and

water.
“We as police, also encourage members of the community to put in place measures that can rein in stock theft especially cattle branding. We are happy that there is a very good response to our call for cattle branding.

“Because some villagers in some remote areas are getting it unbearable to come here in Karoi to register for the branding certificates, we together with the registrar’s office have already started moving into these areas so that all people being hampered by lack of bus fare are taken care of.
“While it costs only US$2 to register for a branding certificate some villagers from remote areas like Chivende will find it unbearable to spend more than US$10 on travelling alone.

“We have so far covered Tengwe and soon we will focus on other remote areas like Kazangarare,” he said.
According to Chief Supt Mandizha dogs are also a very effective way of keeping away cattle rustlers particularly female ones, as these can be confined to a particular home, unlike male ones which

sometimes disappear in pursuit of females.
Most of the cattle thefts, he said, occurred during the night and dogs were a necessity since they could always keep people alert all the time.
“People should also remember to site their cattle pens as close as possible to their homes, so that they can quickly respond to any emergencies,” he said.

In a separate interview, Hurungwe District Business Against Stock Theft chairman Mr Aggrey Matashu said members of the community must cut down on the rate of lending each other beasts, as this practice carried some great propensity to fuel the rate of stock theft.

“Through lending out beasts to other people, the docility of one’s animals can easily be studied resulting in the theft of such targeted animals. This has become the strongest catalyst for the theft of cattle since most thieves target those animals they would have discovered to be soft,” he said
Mr Matashu added that personalised branding was the only way in which the sale of cattle at markets or among villagers could strictly be monitored.

While launching the Hurungwe District Cattle Branding Campaign at Birimahwe Primary School in May this year, Officer Commanding Police in Mashonaland West Senior Assistant Commissioner Rangarirai Mushaurwa said successful cattle rustling was aided by locals.
“Do you think the cattle thieves who terrorise this area of Birimahwe come from Harare, Midlands or Mashonaland Central?

“Indeed no one from that far can just come here and have knowledge of cattle in a particular pen at a particular homestead without the assistance of those staying within the community. We have thieves here in our midst,” she said.

Senior Asst Com Mushaurwa had harsh words for some parents, some of whom she said accepted meat brought home by their children and never bothered to ask about its origin. Some, she said, even went to the extent of thanking such thieves through their totems thereby encouraging and legalising stock theft.
The district launch came in the wake of the national launch by Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri at Murombedzi on March 23, this year.

From the district level, the launch later cascaded down to ward and village levels.
According to police records, Birimahwe under Chief Nematombo, 12km west of Magunje Growth Point, is among the troublesome areas in terms of cattle rustling in Hurungwe, the reason why the

district launch was held in that area. The cordial relationship between the police and the Hurungwe community has, however, helped in the battle against cattle thefts as witnessed by a 15 percent decline last year (426 cases) against 504 cases recorded in 2009.