MBOMBELA – The arrest of 16 members of a rhino horn smuggling syndicate in Prague, Czechoslovakia, has been welcomed by the Minister of Environmental Affairs, Mrs Edna Molewa. “The arrests are indicative of the international nature of rhino poaching and wildlife crime. The government is therefore committed to continue working with our international counterparts, through the improvement of bilateral relations, strengthening of regional and global partnerships such as Interpol, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) to nip rhino poaching and smuggling in the bud and save the species from extinction,” said Minister Molewa.
According to an investigation dossier, Czech police and customs have linked the syndicate to controversial South African hunting outfitter Dawie Groenewald, and the network of wildlife operators dubbed the “Musina Mafia”. Investigators believe that the Czech hunters hunted rhino on Mr Groenewald’s Limpopo farm Prachtig and signed the rights to the trophies over to the syndicate.
“These were not rhino trophy-hunting trips for the sport — they were cold-blooded executions,” an investigator said. “They wanted to sell them on the black market in Vietnam where their price exceeds the costs of rhino hunting.”
Authorities say the horns were shipped with Mr Groenewald’s Out of Africa tags attached, but sent un-mounted as trophies.
The Department of Environmental Affairs’ multi-faceted approach to combat the scourge has included building international partnerships with countries believed to be transit countries for smugglers and alleged consumer nations.
This has included the signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) in the field of Biodiversity Conservation and Management with countries such as Vietnam, China and Mozambique.
MOU are being negotiated and finalised with several other international partners, including Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Thailand and Kenya.
The Minister has appealed to all citizens of the world to stand together and blow the whistle on wildlife crimes, particularly rhino poaching.
All people are invited to adopt the South African clarion call to end rhino poaching during this festive season and during 2015: “Not on our Watch!”.
On 18th December 2014 the latest national statistics regarding rhino poaching, was made available by the department of Environmental Affairs are as follows:
- South African National Parks: Kruger National Park – 780 and Mapungubwe – 1;
- Provinces: Limpopo – 110; KwaZulu Natal – 92; Mpumalanga – 80; North West – 65; Eastern Cape Province – 15; Gauteng – 5; Free State – 4; Northern Cape – 2 and Western Cape – 1.
This brings the total so far for 2014 to 1155. This is already 151 more than the total for 2013 that was 1004.
