Fencing Act

Under the Fencing Act, the following is an offence:

• If a person opens a gate in a fence and leaves it open or unfastened, or if such a person fails to shut and fasten a gate that he found open on passing through (section 22).
• If a person climbs or crawls over or through a fence without permission from the owner or lessee of the land on which such fence or gate is situated (section 23).
• If a person willfully damages or removes a gate or fence (section 24). 

Stock owners must ensure that persons charged with stock theft are also charged with contravention of the Fencing Act. They may be sentenced to a fine not exceeding R50 or imprisonment of three months. A person found guilty of a second or successive offence may be sentenced to imprisonment without the choice of a fine.