Factors with significance on vandalism of on-farm infrastructure at the Musekwa Valley, Vhembe District of Limpopo Province, South Africa

In some parts of the Vhembe District in Limpopo Province of South Africa, vandalism is becoming a serious problem, and solutions are not easy to find. Vandalism has had a variety of negative impacts on livestock farmers. A few studies have studied the concept of vandalism, but studies employing empirical models to determine the factors that are of significance to vandalism are conspicuously rare, if not absent. This paper investigated factors of significance to on-farm infrastructural vandalism in the Musekwa Valley of the Vhembe District, Limpopo Province. The study used a mixed method approach and collected data using a cross-cultural semi structured questionnaire instrument translated from English into the native Tshivenda. Data were collected from fifty-five (n=55) purposively selected primary participants who were interviewed using face to face approach. Additional data were collected through key informant interviews administered on purposively selected key informants (n = 4), focus group discussions were done, and transect walks were employed for observation purposes. A binary logistic regression model was fitted to the data, and the following factors emerged as significant to vandalism: age, gender, education level, ownership of cattle, exposure to information, household expenditure, and reporting of incidents of vandalism to authorities. It is recommended that a community-based approach is adopted to find solutions to the problem of vandalism, to avoid a top-down approach that residents might undermine. Key Words:Cost, vandalism, On-farm, Stock theft, Police