23/04/2022
Hard copy from today's M&G
Premier ‘hid’ rhino carnage report
Mail & Guardian
Simon Bloch
At least 70 rhinos have been killed in the Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park in just three months from January to March this year.
At least 75 rhinos had been killed for their horns in the first quarter of this year ending 31 March, according to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. About 70 of the carcasses were discovered at Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park.
By April 14, the rhino carcass count had risen to 83. In comparison, 102 rhinos were killed in the province during 2021, up slightly from 93 in 2020.
These numbers reflect the escalation in rhino poaching south of the Kruger National Park, making the province the epicentre of the crisis.
New carcasses, both fresh and old, are being discovered almost on a daily basis at Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park.
The figures, published on social media platforms, have sparked public outrage.
The police service recently confirmed the first “possibly” rhino-related arrest of the year in KwaZulu-Natal of a suspect who may be linked to rhino poaching at Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park.
Meanwhile, conservationists have lashed out at KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala for not releasing a rhino task team investigation report for two years. His predecessor, Wi***es Mchunu, commissioned the report in 2016 after a surge in rhino poaching numbers.
Its terms of reference were to investigate rhino poaching and related criminal activity in KwaZulu-Natal, including an assessment of the criminal justice processes in relation to the poaching incidents at all levels.
"The findings and recommendations of the task team could have been beneficial in finding solutions to the rhino poaching crisis," said a former Ezemvelo board member, who requested anonymity.
The task team members had to sign non-disclosure agreements.
The late Frank Dutton, who led investigations into state capture for the Zondo commission, was the chief investigator for the task team.
Soon after the appointment of members of the police service and the State Security Agency to the task team in 2016, their services were withdrawn without any explanation, leaving the depleted team of Dutton, John Wills, former adviser to Mchunu, and Chris van Heerden, of the Wilderness Foundation, to finalise the investigation and compile the report.
Zikalala’s chief of staff, Sam Khuzwayo, and his spokesperson, Lennox Mabaso, did not respond to the Mail & Guardian’s written requests for the report to be made available.
Numerous attempts by opposition party members on parliament’s environmental portfolio committee to get the report have also failed.
Heinz de Boer, the Democratic Alliance spokesman for environment and tourism, told the M&G last week that he had been left with no option but to file a public access to information application under the Promotion of Access to Information Act to get hold of the document.
“The withholding of the rhino report, firstly by EDTEA [department of economic development, tourism and environmental affairs] and secondly by the premier’s office, can now only be described as a cover-up.
"It is unfathomable that the highest political office in the province cannot compile, release or interrogate a critical report into one of the most endangered species in the world,” De Boer said.
“It is quite clear that the premier’s office is either incapable of compiling the report — or is deliberately withholding the information. This is a high-level report compiled to help expose the root causes of poaching, syndicates and associated criminality.
"Provincial government is the custodian of our provincial wildlife, and the ongoing silence speaks volumes on how highly the premier and MEC value our rhinos.
“Quite when the premier and his government is going to realise that rhinos do not belong to Ezemvelo, but to the citizens, remains a mystery,” De Boer added.
Questions also remain unanswered about the cost of the task team report to the taxpayer.
Zikalala and his provincial executive also came under fire from the public and conservationists over their inaction and failure to release emergency funding and resources to combat poaching.
“By dithering and dilly-dallying, and neglecting to capacitate anti-poaching teams with resources and reinforcements, Zikalala and EDTEA MEC Ravi Pillay have failed to provide good governance and effective management at the Ezemvelo conservation authority,” said the former Ezemvelo board member.
“Any way you look at it, Zikalala’s inaction over the report has been severely detrimental to the species. By keeping it under wraps, this has led to an ecological disaster that could have been avoided.
“The numbers speak for themselves. All of those animals slaughtered because the Rhino Task Team report remains somewhere on the premier’s desk, buried beneath the layers of his disastrous leadership.
“On the one hand, there’s now a conservation service that has lost track of its mission and objectives. On the other hand, you have a political leadership that fails to appreciate the value of the protected area system, except as a cash cow for tenders, and personal enrichment opportunities.
“There’s a lack of holistic perspective towards biodiversity conservation and this is evident by the way the premier is running things.
“The purpose of conservation is to protect biodiversity and the environment for the benefit of future generations…. for human benefit; not destroy the thing you should be protecting” he added.
The fact that at least 83 rhinos were known to have been killed, yet only one arrest had been made “is an appalling indictment on Ezemvelo’s readiness and the poor level of South Africa’s crime intelligence agencies”, said a retired colonel who also did not want to be named.
“It appears as if there’s a hidden hand that’s been paralysing their counter-poaching efforts. These poachers must be getting information from traitorous Ezemvelo members inside the park.
“While the last of the good people left at Ezemvelo and the loyal rangers rangers who are said to be pushing 12 hour and 16 hours shifts, are doing their damndest to protect the country’s natural heritage and biodiversity assets for future generations, the politicians carry on like they don’t care, giving the public, and our conservationists the middle finger.
“There are now carcasses being discovered every day,” the retired colonel added.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that the arrested suspect, 54 year-old Sibusiso Zikhali, of Mbazwana in Northern Zululand, is the right-hand man to a well-known rhino poaching king-pin. He was arrested driving a white Toyota bakkie on the R22 between Hluhluwe and Mbazwana in possession of an illegal and unlicensed heavy calibre .375 hunting rifle.
“The suspect was unable to produce a permit for the firearm” said police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nqobile Gwala.
His court case is the only new rhino poaching case enrolled in any of the province’s court rooms since the start of the year.
ENDS
