ABSTRACT

Crime is a complex and multi-layered phenomenon that impacts the lives of every South African. One crime type – and its causes and consequences – that has been relatively under-researched in the country is livestock theft. This crime is becoming of increasingly concern due to its progressively organized nature and its consequential impact on local and national food security. In this study, we use a seminal spatial theory of crime – the routine activities theory – to examine the incidence of livestock theft in the farming community of Swartruggens, a small town in the North West Province of South Africa. Using group conversations with local community members as well as a series of interviews with farmers, we obtain a better theoretical understanding of the causal and contributary factors to the occurrence of livestock thefts in the area. We further motivate for a ‘contestation of crime’ in this community whereby various role players provide different and distinct rationales behind this scourge afflicting this town and its surroundings. A collaborative approach is recommended between community members and farmers to change the narrative depicted by both groups. This will hopefully deescalate existing tensions in the community and reduce the likelihood of further thefts occurring.

摘要

犯罪是一种复杂的多层次现象，影响着每个南非人的生活。在该国相对研究不足的一种犯罪类型——及其原因和后果——是牲畜盗窃。由于其逐渐组织化的性质及其对地方和国家粮食安全的间接影响，这种犯罪越来越受到关注。在这项研究中，我们使用开创性的犯罪空间理论——日常活动理论——来调查南非西北省小镇 Swartruggens 农业社区的牲畜盗窃事件。通过与当地社区成员的小组对话以及与农民的一系列访谈，我们对该地区牲畜盗窃事件的起因和促成因素有了更好的理论理解。我们进一步激发了这个社区的“犯罪竞赛”，各种角色扮演者在这个困扰这个城镇及其周边地区的祸害背后提供了不同和不同的理由。建议社区成员和农民之间采用协作方法来改变两个群体所描述的叙述。这有望缓和社区中现有的紧张局势，并减少进一步盗窃发生的可能性。