Farmers in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands are tearing out their hair over the activities of alleged scrap metal thieves in the region. I n recent months a large number of Midlands farmers have been complaining that scrap metal “collectors” have been trespassing on farmlands and helping themselves to millions of rands worth of new and used metal components. While some of the metal could indeed have been classed as “scrap”, it nevertheless belonged to the farmers in question and all of them considered its removal blatant theft.
Koos Marais of the KZN Agricultural Union’s security desk told Farmer’s Weekly that the metal thieves have recently also taken to removing very expensive copper components from agricultural equipment including pumps and centre-pivots. Farmers have reported entire ploughs and other implements going missing, as well as fence materials. And it appears that some of the farmers are also having problems reporting these kind of thefts to the police.
The Witness recently reported that a Pietermaritzburg organic farmer, Nora Choveaux, caught three scrap metal “collectors” red-handed on her property with a bakkie-load of materials allegedly from her farm. But police were reluctant to open a case because the metal on the bakkie was apparently so rusted that she would not be able to conclusively prove that it was hers. Choveaux said the police had also told her she could not lay a charge of trespassing against the bakkie’s occupants because her land was not completely fenced. – Lloyd Phillips
