Day: August 1, 2023

In the first six months of this year, 231 rhinos were killed in South Africa, representing an 11% decrease when compared to the same period last year.

This represents a decline of 28 animals killed for their horn.

Addressing a media briefing on Tuesday, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy, said during this period poaching trends also continued to show a move away from the Kruger National Park to provincial and private reserves.

“Forty-two rhinos were poached in the Kruger National Park and 143 in KwaZulu-Natal province from January to June 2023. Forty-six of the rhinos killed were in privately-owned nature reserves and 143 in provincially-owned reserves,” the Minister said in Pretoria.

Due to the demand for rhino horn remaining a constant threat to rhino populations, collaboration between the law enforcement agencies supported by private security remained key.

An important development in strengthening the collaboration between law enforcement to effectively address the organised nature of rhino poaching and wildlife trafficking is Cabinet’s approval National Integrated Strategy to Combat Wildlife Trafficking (NISCWT) in May this year.

“This strategy aims to break the illicit value chain of wildlife trafficking in South Africa and beyond its borders. It represents a commitment by government to direct law enforcement ability and effort and mobilise society support to address the threat wildlife tracking poses to national security and the country’s rich biodiversity.

“Although currently our main focus is rhino, the strategy also aims to address the illegal trade in, and poaching of, other species that are threatened by trafficking syndicates, like abalone,” Creecy said.

Joint initiatives pay dividends

In the first six months of this year efforts by both the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) have led to the conviction of 31 offenders.

The majority of sentences were custodial. In Skukuza, one suspect found guilty of killing three rhino and possession of unlawful arms and ammunition was sentenced to an effective 32 year imprisonment.

In another matter, three accused, found driving in Kruger National Park with five rhino horns hidden in the vehicle, a hunting rifle with a silencer, ammunition and knives, were convicted for the killing of three rhinos in the park, possession of unlawful firearms and ammunition, possession of dangerous weapons and trespassing.

Accused one and two were sentenced to 34 years imprisonment, while accused 3 was sentenced to 39 years imprisonment.

In Limpopo, an accused individual was sentenced on a charge of murder, killing of two rhinos, unlicenced firearm and ammunition to an effective sentence of 24 years imprisonment.

In the Eastern Cape, six accused were convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit rhino poaching, notably no rhinos were killed, and the possession of unlicenced firearm and ammunition and effectively sentenced to imprisonment ranging from 16 to 20 years.

“The role of rangers in supporting the prosecution and sentencing of those arrested for wildlife crimes committed in the Kruger cannot be underestimated.

“There is strong collaboration between the SAPS forensic teams and South African National Parks (SANParks) Environmental and Corporate Investigations (ECI) when attending crime scenes to ensure the collection of vital evidence to link suspects to the crime scenes. It is also done to ensure minimum contamination of the crime scene.

“During the meeting held earlier this year with the Director of Public Prosecutions’ Environmental Working Group we discussed the challenge relating to the opposing of bail due to the fact that rhino poaching is not listed as a scheduled offence.

“Research is being conducted to propose, if viable, legislative amendments to address this challenge,” the Minister said.

Creecy said it was unfortunate that rhino poachers have continued to target the Hluhluwe/iMfolozi game reserve in KwaZulu-Natal where Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, supported by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and iSimangaliso Wetland Park, continue to implement a number of measures to combat rhino poaching.

Among these has been the establishment of a Tactical Operations Joint Control Centre which now facilitates the SAPS deployments to Hluhluwe/iMfolozi Park (HiP).

The department has made available R40 million for the repair and replacement of the boundary fence around the Hluhluwe/iMfolozi game reserve, which is regularly breached and through which wild animals can escape to nearby communities.

The National Prosecuting Authority has designated a prosecutor to facilitate rhino cases in KwaZulu-Natal and cases have been prioritised and identified to be expedited through the court processes.

Criminal syndicates

In response to a range of studies that point out collusion between ranger services and criminal syndicates, the Kruger National Park has developed a holistic Ranger Services – Integrity Management Plan.

“This plan aims to improve ranger morale and resilience to corruption by providing services that enhance ranger health and well-being, provide training and counselling, offer a range of financial management services and debt management.

“The Ranger Service has also enlisted the Association of Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA) Foundation to provide specialised financial literacy training for all field rangers. This was attended by 334 employees,” the Minister said.

SANParks has also established an integrity testing system – a polygraph policy – for new recruits and to support anti-corruption investigations.

To ensure the safe passage of tourists, SANParks has joined a task team championed by the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Fish Mahlalela, in collaboration with the traditional leaders of adjoining communities, the SAPS and private security companies to ensure constant patrols along the identified hotspots en route to the Kruger National Park.

“South Africa’s national parks are situated in areas of extreme poverty and are surrounded by many vulnerable communities.

“In order to ensure that communities on the outskirts of parks benefit from tourism and thus help to keep tourists safe, SANParks has held a number of stakeholder engagements with entrepreneurs in the past four years with regard to the provision of goods and services to our national parks.

“In addition, through Working for Water, Ecosystems and Wetlands programmes, we have created 33 222 work opportunities for communities living on the outskirts of our national parks,” the Minister said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

South Africa intends to bring the African agenda to the fore at the upcoming 15th BRICS Summit, which will take place in Johannesburg from 22 – 24 August.

The Deputy Director-General of Exports at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic), Lerato Mataboge, said at the BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] Business Editors’ Breakfast, which was held in Johannesburg on Monday, that the summit is an opportune platform to have a robust conversation on “issues of diversifying exports towards value added trade, increasing productive capacities, increasing entrepreneurial opportunities and the skills dividend”.

All these are areas that bear relevance to the theme of the highly-anticipated summit, which is ‘BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism’.

Mataboge said in addition to infrastructure and industrial development and market integration, attention must be given to accelerating growth and accruing value on the African continent; increasing investment flows to Africa, technology transfer, employment opportunities, and improved incomes and economic inclusion and transformation.

South Africa, as the current chair of BRICS, will be chairing the summit soon after its fruitful participation in the 2nd Russia-Africa Summit, which was held in St. Petersburg last week. The summit came after South Africa successfully held a Friends of BRICS National Security Advisors’ Meeting and the BRICS Urbanisation Forum in Durban last week.

The business editors’ session formed part of activities in the road leading to the 15th BRICS Summit. The session was a high-level engagement with the editorial heads of agenda-setting media titles, with the objective of outlining the trade and investment posture of the BRICS Business Council, programme of work of the economic work stream of BRICS in South Africa, as well as the tangible economic opportunities that emerge for South Africa and the African continent.

AfCFTA

In outlining South Africa’s stance on driving the continent’s agenda at the BRICS Summit, Mataboge outlined the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), saying it creates a legal framework that aims to remove barriers and unlock opportunities for trade and investment for local and global businesses, especially in the creation of regional value chains in Africa.

Notably, she said women and youth-owned businesses are poised to benefit from the AfCFTA, with the necessary financial and non-financial support.

“The AfCFTA creates a single market projected to grow to 1.7 billion people and $6.7 trillion in consumer and business spending by 2030. By 2050, the population would have grown to 2.5 billion people, with combined business and consumer spending reaching $16.12 trillion,” Mataboge said.

Highlighting the AfCFTA’s industrialisation opportunities, Mataboge said the AfCFTA Private Sector Engagement Strategy is set to capture value into the continent. She pointed out four sectors including automotive, agriculture and agro-processing, pharmaceuticals and transport and logistics as having high potential for investment, with “potential to meet African demand through local production and potential value as exports to the rest of the world”.

Mataboge said together, these four sectors represent R2.6 billion in goods and services’ imports per annum.

South Africa became a member of BRICS in 2010 and attended its first Summit in 2011. BRICS was established as a forum of like-minded, progressive emerging market and developing countries committed to the need to restructure the global political, economic and financial architecture to be more equitable, balanced and resting on the important pillars of multilateralism and international law.

Over time, BRICS extended its cooperation to three pillars: political and security, economic and financial, and social/people-to-people.

At the initiative of South Africa, BRICS also expanded its reach beyond the BRICS members through the BRICS Outreach and BRICS Plus initiatives.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Community Safety says it will be writing to President Cyril Ramaphosa and Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi to consider the deployment of soldiers in the province to “to end the scourge of illegal mining in the province once and for all”.

This after the discovery of five bodies – suspected to be illegal miners – were found shot in Riverlea over the weekend, following reports of a gun battle between illegal miners.

Furthermore, last month a gas leak led to the deaths of 17 people in the Boksburg area.

In a statement, the committee said illegal mining is causing “escalating lawlessness and mayhem” in the province.

“The Committee views illegal mining as a form of economic sabotage beyond just tax evasion, but also illicit financial flows with a devastating negative effect on the already struggling South African economy. It is also critical to establish the alleged involvement of Mining companies in illegal mining and their contribution to bringing an end to this.

“The Committee further calls upon the Department of Mineral Resources to assist in holding Mining companies that previously owned these mines legally obligated and accountable in taking full responsibility of rehabilitating them,” the statement read.

According to the committee, it will also be calling leaders in the province before it to explain what measures are being explored to curb the illegal scourge.

“The Committee has therefore resolved to call on the Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, together with the Provincial Police Commissioner, to appear before it and give an account on what measures are being put in place to end illegal mining in the province.

“These measures must have clear action plans and timelines, as the people of Gauteng can no longer afford to live in fear due to the so called Zama Zamas who are in their majority illegal foreign nationals. The safety of citizens should be a priority and we cannot allow lawlessness to continue unabated,” the statement read.

Source: South African Government News Agency