By Siyanda Zinyanga
Despite years of promises and public consultations, hundreds of cows, donkeys and goats continue to roam Makhanda’s streets, posing a threat to motorists, the natural environment, residents’ health and the animals themselves.
Underlying the problem is the non-enforcement of municipal bylaws, the lack of a municipal pound, as well as the decades-long neglect of local commonages.
Cattle were recently spotted on the N2, having broken through the fences at the top of George Street. Theft and damage to fencing have been persistent issues, and Makana’s Impoundment of Animals Bylaw, controlling the keeping of animals and the impoundment of strays, is not enforced.
Resident Jay Kruuse, who is the director of the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM), said the cattle that roam within town and onto the N2 “require the return and proper functioning of an impoundment facility that will deter cattle owners as it introduces actual consequences. It will also contribute to revenue generation for the municipality”.
The nearest impoundment facility is in Alexandria, over 50km away.
Local civic activist Tim Bull said that municipal employees own some of the vast number of livestock wandering in town. “So there are several reasons why there is a lack of will to do anything about it,” Bull said.
Bull said that during three organised cattle round-ups in 2015/2016, 50% of the cattle rounded up were claimed by municipal officials, who turned up in their Makana work clothes. “The Stock Theft Unit allowed owners to claim their livestock before they were loaded and taken to the Alexandria pound. Most were issued penalty notices (fines).”
Bull noted that in the past, the public was able to request action from the Parks and Recreation Department, which used to have rangers who expelled the cows in town. Their most regular time was Friday afternoons, to clear the town before weekends. However, he has not witnessed this being done in present times.
“It’s not just the city centre and western suburbs that suffer. If anything, the problem is worse in Joza as people can’t afford strong fences. Livestock regularly invade private gardens, including vegetable gardens, causing damage,” Bull said.
According to the Archbishop of the Ethiopian Episcopal Church and Concerned Makhanda Residents leader Nkosinathi Ngesi, citizens exacerbated the problem by throwing their garbage on the street, which attracted animals. He said it was tough to sleep as dogs bark at night at the animals that sleep in the streets. He said the animals should be impounded so cattle owners can start taking complete accountability for their animals.
Cows on the N2
In an earlier Grocott’s Mail report on this issues, the general manager of communications for the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral), Vusi Mona, said the upkeep and maintenance of the fences adjacent to the N2 is the responsibility of Sanral, road rangers provided by the Eastern Cape Department of Transport and the land owners of the properties next to the road.
Mona said Sanral’s maintenance contractor had made continuous efforts to adopt a variety of fencing options in the affected areas, but that no responsibility had been taken by the farmers who owned the livestock.
He said the absence of herdsmen to look after the cattle and the prevalence of greener grass on the road reserve compared with the overgrazed farmland adjacent to the road reserve are additional factors that contribute to the cattle roaming freely.
Commonage lands
Meanwhile, cattle owners told Grocott’s Mail they were unable to use Makhanda’s commonage lands because they are overgrazed, poorly fenced and too far from their homes.
The eastern old commonage remains poorly maintained and unsupported. The new commonage, which includes land redistributed from commercial farms, was intended to empower landless residents. Today, it’s overgrazed, unfenced, and lacks basic water infrastructure.
Local farmers repeatedly describe “empty promises” and a chronic lack of municipal budget allocation. It breeds frustration and conflict when available funds, allocation, and decision-making processes are unclear.
J Street cattle owner Langa Nene said, “There are endless meetings with the municipality, but it’s all speeches. Nothing changes.” Nene said he was concerned that his 17 cattle could be stolen from commonage land as the fencing was in a “bad state”. He said that the municipality only worried about cattle roaming the city’s streets, not donkeys. Nene also said he has to treat his cattle when they swallow plastics and other harmful substances around the city.
Livestock is a source of food, income and cultural pride for many cattle owners in Makhanda.
Makana Municipality’s Parks and Recreation department is tasked with managing the commonage land.
However, an analysis of Makana Municipality’s 2025-2026 draft Integrated Development Plan revealed there was no explicit reference to the impoundment of stray animals and no detailed commonage management strategy.
Tim Bull said that cattle owners are supposed to be charged a fee for using commonages: “No one pays that fee as the fences of the commonages are broken. The owners take no responsibility for where their animals graze.”
‘Vegetation control strategy’
Makana Municipality spokesperson Anele Mjekula said donkeys and other stray animals were being lured into the town by residents who fed them and left litter in the streets. He urged residents to stop doing this.
Mjekula said animals were also attracted into town by the plentiful and palatable vegetation on the town’s verges and parks. Consequently, Makana had embarked on a “vegetation control plan” to dissuade animals from roaming the streets for grazing material.
However, Kruuse said a vegetation control strategy would “not achieve its purpose as cows would roam if allowed to, especially where there are no consequences for cattle owners who don’t manage their livestock correctly and who don’t feel the financial implications of impoundment”.
Grocott’s Mail asked Makana Municipality whether it could control Makhanda’s vegetation all year round.
We also asked what action had been taken to address roaming cattle in sensitive areas like the military base runway, the N2 highway, the City Hall, and various suburbs. We also asked about the municipality’s potential liability in traffic accidents caused by unmarked and unbranded stray cattle and the public health hazards these animals pose. A complete list of the questions sent to Makana on Tuesday can be found at the bottom of this article. No response from the Makana Municipality was forthcoming by the end of Thursday.
The burden on the SPCA
Meanwhile, according to SPCA animal inspector Monwabisi Dingane, his organisation has had to dispense medical care to animals hit by cars. He said no one had ever thanked or compensated the SPCA for their work. He said no one had ever reported a case to the local SPCA of a stray animal injuring a person in Makhanda.
The Makhanda commonages consist of distinct areas: the southern commonage (part of the Oldenburgia conservancy where grazing is banned), the eastern old commonage (used by township residents for livestock and harvesting wood, medicinal plants, spiritual practices and more), and the new commonage (former commercial farms now used by urban residents for livestock).
According to the South African Animals Amendment Act No. 42 of 1993, any animal, as a result of negligence, that causes injury to another person, should be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for up to two years.
In 2017, a truck driver narrowly escaped death when his 14-wheeler hit cows on the N2 outside Makhanda.
Our questions to the Makana Municipality: no response so far
- Which directorate and senior manager are responsible for ensuring adherence to the Impoundment of Animals Bylaw?
- What action will be taken at the Mayoral Council level to ensure oversight over the implementation of the Impoundment of Animals Bylaw?
- Is the Impoundment of Animals Bylaw currently funded from the budget of Makana Local Municipality? If it is, please provide details of any applicable budgets. If not presently budgeted, please explain why this is the case. Note that the implementation of the Impoundment of Animals Bylaw is not identified as an output with measurable deliverables within the IDP. Please explain why. If we have missed this, please provide further details with specific reference to the IDP. If Makana believes that these issues are significant local concerns, would it not be valuable to ensure they are more visibly reflected in the IDP? This would ensure they are part of the municipality’s formal planning, budgeting, and performance monitoring.
- Has the Municipality been approached to address the presence of roaming cattle in sensitive areas, such as the runway/landing strip adjacent to the Military Base and the N2? What action has the municipality taken, if any, to address these concerns? Has the Municipality been asked to address the repeated presence of roaming cattle in various suburbs? What action has the municipality taken, if any, to address these concerns?
- Please advise how many cattle have been impounded by Makana Local Municipality in the last 5 years? Where were they impounded?
- Does the Municipality agree that, should an un-marked/branded cow or cows be the cause of a traffic accident within the municipal area, the Municipality could be held liable?
- Does the Municipality agree that the regular presence of cows in built-up areas of Makana poses health hazards to residents, places such animals at risk of injury, creates traffic obstructions, whilst also damaging property?
- Does Makana Municipality have specific sector plans (e.g., an Agricultural Plan, Environmental Management Plan, or a Public Safety Plan) that might contain more detailed information on commonage management and animal control?
- Are any resolutions regarding the adoption or review of bylaws, including any related to animal impoundment, recorded in Council minutes?
- On the question of managing commonage vegetation, is adequate commonage land designated for grazing? How is it managed? Are there fences, water, and rotational grazing systems there? If the commonages are well-managed, secure and offer good forage, livestock could not stray into urban areas.
- You mention the challenge of residents feeding strays. Have you appealed to residents to stop doing this? Isn’t the main problem the lack of fencing, water and adequate grazing on the commonages?
