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A man herds cattle on communal land in Cato Ridge, South Africa, July 28, 2019.
Three alleged stock thieves have been shot dead by police at Maladini in Qumbu in the Eastern Cape.
Provincial Police spokesperson Welile Matyolo says a shootout ensued after an officer attached to the OR Tambo Stocktheft Prevention Task Team, who was loading stolen cattle into a truck, asked a man at a nearby homestead if he’d seen a runaway cow.
The man apparently went into a rondavel before the officer and his colleagues, who were rounding up the stolen cattle in the area, came under fire.
Nine suspected stolen goats were retrieved from the deceased’s homestead.
Matyolo says no officers were injured.
“As one of the cows ran to the nearby homestead, resisting being loaded in a truck, the police official was looking for it and asked a man in the nearby homestead about the whereabouts of the fleeing cow. But the man dashed into a rondavel and started shooting at the police official, who retaliated. Three male suspects inside the rondavel were fatally wounded, and three unlicensed 9mm pistols with erased serial numbers were recovered inside the rondavel.”
