In the two months since Bathurst cattle owners made a desperate plea for aid to save their animals, 10 more cattle have died and there are daily reports of weak animals collapsing from hunger and thirst.
In a particularly grim and dangerous situation, a cow that was discovered drowned in the pool from which Bathurst and Port Alfred draw their water supply remained there for at least five days after it was reported on Saturday.
A combination of eating plastic bags with traces of food in them at the unenclosed landfill, poor grazing because of the drought and a lack of water is decimating the community herd that grazes on the Bathurst Commonage.
“At least 10 animals have died in the past month,” Bathurst Cattle Owners Association chairperson Khayalethu Sweli said this week. “Others are so weak, they will die any time now.
“Just an hour ago someone sent me a photo of another cow that is so weak it can hardly stand.”
A disaster of biblical proportions is recorded by cattle owners and residents, and photographs have circulated of cattle dying in dried-up dams, or on the road where they stood.
Meanwhile, residents of the village have stepped up to help owners ease the dire suffering they’re witnessing on their streets.
We are faced with a major crisis that we have been trying for almost two years to resolve...
— chairperson of the Bathurst Commonage Committee Monty Roodt
Chairperson of the Bathurst Ratepayers and Residents Association Stan Esterhuizen said there was a village-wide effort to mitigate a desperate situation.
He described an incident earlier this week in which a group of residents went to the assistance of a cow on the verge of collapse.
“The owner of the animal, the SPCA, a private vet giving advice over the phone and the residents collaborated to get the cow back on its feet,” Esterhuizen said.
The residents brought water and lucerne; SPCA manager Lisa Nyanya dosed it with vitamin B and Ivermectin and Kowie Vet’s Leon de Bruyn gave advice based on the observations of those on site.
“It was a real combined effort,” Esterhuizen said.
On October 30, chairperson of the Bathurst Commonage Committee Monty Roodt wrote to national, provincial and local government officials concerned with livestock management, environmental safety and cooperative governance (the entity that is supposed to make sure all departments of government at all levels work together effectively).
He wrote: “We are faced with a major crisis that we have been trying for almost two years to resolve… Cattle are dying from eating plastic, the commonage is being polluted, cattle are wandering on the R67 and are continually being hit by cars, destroying people’s gardens, and are desperate for food as the veld is bare as we wait for proper rain.
“The landfill/rubbish dump, which is on municipal land on the commonage, is unfenced and cattle and wildlife are at constant threat.
“We need an urgent intervention,” the commonage management said.
About a month ago, Dispatch siter publication Talk of the Town reported on a tour of the village with chairperson of the Bathurst Cattle Owners Association, Khayalethu Sweli. He was clear on what needed to be done.
Fencing off the municipal landfill along with instituting proper access control were the first.
Then (probably controversially because of the mixed-use nature and biodiversity value of the commonage), “cleaning” the veld (to open up more pasture). And finally, but most urgently, providing feed to tide the animals over this period when the veld is so dry.
The Bathurst Commonage Management Committee is an elected, democratically constituted body made up of two representatives from each commonage user-structure: cattle owners, other livestock owners, traditional healers, equestrians, Bathurst Residents and Ratepayers Association, Friends of Bathurst Nature, the ward councillor and the LED Officer, Ndlambe Municipality.
Unlike other commonages in South Africa, which cater mainly for cattle owners, the committee said it regarded the Bathurst Commonage, “one of the largest in the country at roughly 2800 hectares and largely comprised of mesic Albany or sub-tropical thicket”, as a resource for all residents.
Among all the levels of governance appealed to across various departments, only one municipal official had acknowledged the plea, Roodt said. No official had actively responded.
TOTT’s queries sent to the national and provincial departments of agriculture, and to Ndlambe Municipality, remain so far unanswered.
“We’ve had no feedback,” Sweli said yesterday. “There has been no response from the department [of agriculture] or the municipality.
“I heard there would be a TLB coming to remove the cow from the water, but that’s all I’ve heard.”
Sweli represents 37 cattle owners in Bathurst. Between them they own around 600 cattle. Roughly 400 of those graze on the commonage and about 200 graze in and around Nolukhanyo.
Tallk of the Town
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