Published in Crime in Dar es Salaam
Results of a City Victim Survey
Rory Robertshaw, Anotinette Louw and Anna Mtani
Key points
This group of crimes occured mainly in those parts of Dar es Salaam where land availability, lifestyle and economic factors create the potential for small-scale and other forms of farming activity. Victimisation rates — especially in the case of theft of livestock and crops — were fairly high among the general Dar es Salaam population. However, when people living in the rural areas of the city were separated from the general population, the victimisation rate increased significantly: just over half (52%) of rural residents were victims of crop theft, 46% were victims of livestock theft and a fifth were victims of farm equipment theft.
Victim profiles
Tables 7 to 9 provide victim profiles for each of the three types of theft. In the case of crop theft, the households most at risk were those where residents owned their home and those in rural areas and new suburbs. The risk profiles for theft of livestock and farm equipment were similar to that of victims of crop theft.
When rural-based crimes occurred
The victim survey sought to determine what month, day of the week and time of day these thefts occurred. For livestock and farm equipment theft, the distribution of incidents throughout the year was fairly constant, with peaks in December.
The monthly trend for crop theft was more distinctive, with peaks in June and September (figure 27). This pattern seems to coincide with the growth seasons, since the majority of fields lie fallow between November and February.
For all three types of theft, Fridays and Saturdays were the days when these crimes were most likely to be committed. The time of day, however, varied between the crime types. For theft of crops and livestock, the pattern was similar, with a peak between 18h00 and 24h00 (figure 28). Farm equipment theft, in contrast, was primarily a daytime activity with most of these crimes reported as occurring between 06h00 and 18h00 (figure 29).
Figure 28: Distribution of livestock and crop theft during the course of the day
Figure 29: Distribution of farm equipment theft during the course of the day
What was stolen
The survey asked victims of livestock theft about the number of animals that were stolen (figure 30). Results show that only a few cattle, pigs and goats were stolen at a time: between one and five of these animals were commonly taken during a single incident of theft. For poultry theft, it was more common for 11 or more to be stolen at one time.
In the case of the theft of farm equipment, the vast majority of victims (84%) reported that a hoe was taken. Between 3% and 4% each said that axes, rakes, pangas and wheelbarrows were stolen. One per cent of victims reported losing a plough and another 1% said a hose pipe was stolen.
Use of violence
Respondents were asked whether violence had been used during the crime. In the case of these crimes, violence was very rare, happening in only 1% of crop thefts and in 7% of livestock thefts.
Who was thought to have committed the crime
In the case of crop and livestock theft, victims were asked who they thought had committed the crime. For both types of theft, most respondents said that locals and outsiders together were responsible for these crimes (figure 31).
Figure 31: Who victims of livestock theft thought were responsible for the thefts
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