Mobilising against timber theft

Timber growers in the Mpumalanga lowveld are mobilising in a bid to curb a tidal wave of timber and equipment theft. They have established an anti-timber theft forum comprising growers and stakeholders from the region, and are engaging with the Asset Forfeiture Unit in a bid to hit back at the ring leaders of the criminal gangs that are targeting forestry businesses.

They have employed an administrator based at the LEFPA offices in Nelspruit, and plan to collect data on timber and equipment theft occurring in the region so that they can be more strategic in their efforts to stamp it out.

Many of the big forestry companies have employed former police detectives as risk control managers to fight the crime wave and reduce their losses. There is widespread dissatisfaction among forestry stakeholders, many of whom say that the police and the courts are not doing enough to bring the criminals to book.

There are three active anti-timber theft forums operating in KwaZulu-Natal where theft of timber and chainsaws is also rife.

An in-depth article on timber theft appears in the April 2012 issue of SA Forestry magazine.