Stock theft: guard your herd, and have your say on the draft law

Reported stock theft is falling in South Africa, slowly, and where farmers and police work together, more stolen animals come home. On 2 October 2026 the government published a draft law on stock theft, and it wants to hear from farmers. Here is what the Bill would change, how to have your say before the deadline, and what works today, for you and for your whole village.

Where things stand

Police recorded 23 251 stock-theft cases between April 2025 and March 2026, about 9% fewer than the 25 606 of the year before (our sums of SAPS quarterly reports). The fall carried on: from April to June 2026, SAPS recorded 5 242 cases, 6.7% fewer than a year earlier. The Eastern Cape had 28.7% of them and KwaZulu-Natal 22.0%.

Getting animals back is the hard part. A 2025 study of Eastern Cape police records found that 17.2% of stolen animals were recovered from 2018 to 2024: 26.9% in Amathole district, but 9.6% in Chris Hani. The researchers link Amathole's result to strong community involvement and to farmers and police working together. What your village does makes a difference.

Many thefts are never reported. In a Free State survey published in August 2025, Willie Clack found that 82% of the farmers who answered did not report stock theft, because they believed the police would do nothing. But every report counts: reported cases show how big the crime is and where it happens, and shape the resources sent to fight it, Western Cape forum chair Wessel Fourie said in September 2026 (Farmer's Weekly).

The new Bill, in plain words

On 2 October 2026 the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service published the Draft Stock Theft Amendment Bill, 2026 for public comment (Notice 4173, Government Gazette 55465). This draft becomes law after Parliament passes it and the President sets a start date. Until then, today's Act applies. The main proposals:

• A stock register for every owner. Where your animals are kept; their breed, sex, number and registered mark; every birth, death, sale, purchase, loss or slaughter, with dates; and who counted, when. Entries within 7 days, a count at least every 14 days, kept for 3 years after the last animal in it is gone, and shown to the police on request or at a routine inspection, with 3 months' grace at the start.
• Fuller sale papers. The document of identification would carry both people's names, ID numbers, phone numbers and addresses, the animals' mark, colour and sex, and the seller's signed statement that they may sell them. Both sides check the details; the buyer checks the marks. Kept 3 years, not 1.
• Careful buying. Outside an auction, buying animals you should reasonably have suspected were not the seller's would be an offence. Today's Act already punishes buying stolen animals without good reason to trust the seller.
• Papers on the road. A driver who is not the owner, or the owner's named person, would carry their own ID and the owner's removal certificate, with the vehicle's details and both addresses. This would apply off public roads too, except for normal farm work on the owner's land.
• Landowner consent. To move your animals off land you do not own or occupy, you would need written consent from the landowner or lawful occupier, and would move them within 7 days. The Bill does not say how this works on communal land, where families share grazing.
• A penalty for every animal. Magistrates' courts keep today's maximum sentences: 3 years in a district court, 15 in a regional court. But a court could add a penalty for each animal, and order that things used in the crime be forfeited to the State.
• Who may arrest. Today any person may arrest without a warrant on reasonable suspicion of certain stock-theft crimes. The Bill would give that power to the owner, occupier or person in charge of the animals, on those premises, who must hand the suspect to the police as soon as possible. If your village runs patrols, ask your police or a lawyer how this affects you.

How to have your say

The notice asks for comments within 30 days of 2 October 2026. The Parliamentary Monitoring Group lists 1 November 2026, a Sunday, and African Farming reported 2 November. To be sure, send yours by Friday 30 October 2026, and keep a copy.

• E-mail: STA_Bill@csp.gov.za
• Post: The Secretary for Police Service, for attention Mr S Mokubyane, Civilian Secretariat for Police Service, Private Bag X922, Pretoria 0001
• By hand: Fedsure Building, 2nd Floor, 268 Lilian Ngoyi Street, Pretoria 0002

You do not need a lawyer. Say who you are, where you farm, which part of the Bill you mean, and what would help or be hard: the distance to the police station, the cost of papers, getting a brand registered, consent on communal land. A farmers' association, dip-tank committee or traditional council can send one letter for many people.

On 6 October 2026 the Department of Agriculture also published draft Regulations relating to identification of animals (Government Notice R.7993, Government Gazette 55507), open for 90 days: to about 4 January 2027 by our count. Cattle would be tagged before 6 months old, with a digital and an ordinary ear tag, or a microchip and an ear tag. Animals could not be tagged unless they carry the brand on the owner's brand certificate, and untagged animals could not move to another farm. Tag costs are not stated. Post comments to the Minister of Agriculture, for attention of the Director-General, Department of Agriculture, 600 Lilian Ngoyi Street, Pretoria 0001.

What you can do this week

Both drafts build on two things you can start today: a registered mark and a written record.

1. Register your mark. A registered brand for cattle, or tattoo mark for sheep and goats, proves an animal is yours. Get the form from an extension officer, a magistrate's office or a police Stock Theft Unit. It costs R220 (Government Notice 7220, March 2026) and takes about 30 working days, says government's service page, so start now. Our guide explains the steps.
2. Mark on time. Under the marking regulations, cattle are marked by 6 months and branded by the two-tooth stage, and sheep and goats are tattooed in the ear at 1 month. Put your own mark on bought animals within 14 days: after that, the Animal Identification Act says you may not sell them without it.
3. Start a register. An exercise book is enough: animals by type, sex, colour and mark, every birth, death, sale and purchase with its date, and who counted when. Keep photos of each animal's brand and colour with it. The 2014 handbook of the National Stock Theft Prevention Forum and the RPO says a complete register shows the magistrate you were in control of your animals.
4. Count yourself, often, on random days. The forum advises at least twice a week, and at least weekly at cattle posts.
5. Close the gaps. Kraal animals at night, as SAPS advises. Check fences and gates, lock loading ramps, and report strange animals in your herd to the police and your neighbours.
6. Watch the risky times. The forum names full moon, weekends and month-ends. Farmers in a 2024 Eastern Cape study in PLoS ONE named winter, with its long nights, the riskiest season.
7. Never sell or buy without papers. Under today's Act the seller hands over a document of identification at delivery, and the buyer keeps it for at least a year. Anyone moving someone else's animals on a public road carries the owner's removal certificate. See the papers an animal needs to travel.

GPS trackers are optional. In April 2025 ARC researchers, quoting a supplier, put a solar ear tag at about R12 000 and a belt tracker, which thieves easily spot, at about R2 500. One on the herd's leader can be enough (Food For Mzansi).

If your animals are stolen

1. Report at once at your police station, or dial 10111 in an emergency. Get the case number and quote it every time you follow up.
2. Leave the scene as it is. Cover footprints against rain and wind. Keep the other animals in the kraal until the Stock Theft Unit arrives. Do not repair a cut fence before the police take samples, and keep cut chains and locks.
3. Take care with your statement. It is an important part of the investigation, said Louis Wessels, chair of the National Stock Theft Prevention Forum, in September 2026 (Farmer's Weekly). Give the investigator your register, photos and mark certificate.
4. Report every theft, even one goat. You can also send the details to the RPO and forum WhatsApp line, 071 515 2011 (RPO, 2025). It adds to a police case; it does not replace one.
5. Go to court when called. A case can be dismissed if the complainant does not attend, beef farmer Pholisa Bidla warned in Food For Mzansi in January 2026.

Cases do end in prison. In September 2026 African Farming reported a 15-year sentence in Bloemfontein for stealing 21 Merino sheep.

Stronger together

In 2024/25, 328 animals in pounds were not returned to their owners. Police named failure to mark animals, as the law requires, as one of three main reasons (parliamentary reply, reported June 2025). A village can change that.

• Brand together. Ask your extension officer about a branding day for the village. In a 2026 study of 120 communal farmers in Mnquma, Eastern Cape, farmers who identified their animals were less likely to lose them to theft.
• Start an information centre. The 2014 handbook describes stock theft information centres, where owners, the Stock Theft Unit, a prosecutor and station commanders share information and follow cases, and says the unit commander must help set one up when owners ask. Ask your local unit how this works today.
• Talk every day. Stock Theft Unit officers in a 2026 study by Clack, Doorewaard and Maluleke valued WhatsApp groups. Start one for your village to share strange vehicles, unknown buyers and missing animals.

It works. In mid-2025 a farm neighbourhood watch in Delmas, Mpumalanga, worked with police and farmers to recover 64 stolen cattle worth about R960 000 (African Farming).

How Live Stock can help

Live Stock cannot watch your kraal at night. That is work for you, your neighbours and the police. What we do is make every sale on our market open and recorded. You can judge what that is worth.

• Every seller is checked once by a person: identity against Home Affairs through a licensed bureau, proof of where the animals are kept (a dip-tank record, a police affidavit or a tribal authority letter; no title deed needed), and a registered brand certificate. Every buyer is identity-checked before any meeting.
• Photos from the camera, never the gallery. Listing photos are taken from every side and carry GPS, so the buyer can check the brand and markings at the handover.
• No animals on a promise. The buyer pays into escrow with a licensed escrow provider; Live Stock never holds the money. You are paid after the buyer inspects and accepts, and a 24-hour hold.
• A record of every sale: the seller's health declaration, a transport authorisation, a movement record and a proof of sale. They are Live Stock's records, not state permits, and not the document of identification or removal certificate the Stock Theft Act asks for. Complete those too, and write the sale in your register.
• Help when a deal goes wrong. On a dispute, we produce an incident evidence pack for the police: identities, amounts and a timeline with GPS where the devices allowed. It covers deals on Live Stock, not animals taken from your kraal.

Listing is free. Farmers keep 97%. The buyer pays a 7% service fee.