The Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Ms Edna Molewa has expressed grave concern about the high rate of rhinos poached in 2012 and would like to reiterate government's unwavering commitment in the continued fight against rhino poaching.
The rhino poaching statistics indicate that a total of 668 rhinos were lost to poaching in South Africa in 2012 and a total of 267 arrests were made in relation to rhino poaching. Five rhinos have been poached since the beginning of this year, three of them in the Kruger National Park, one in the North West Province and one in Mpumalanga.
In 2012, the Kruger National Park was the hardest hit by poaching, losing 425 rhino. The North West, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo provinces suffered the greatest losses, collectively accounting for the loss of 202 rhino in 2012.
Minister Molewa would like to assure South Africans that Government will continue to implement its various interventions and work jointly with other key stakeholders to address the problem of rhino poaching.
The number of arrests has seen a steady increase from 165 and 232 in 2010 and 2011 respectively to 267 in 2012. In 2011, the SAPS took a bold step in declaring the illegal killing and trade of rhinos and rhino horn a priority crime. After the matter of rhino killings was elevated to the National Joints Security Committee (NATJOINTS) resulting in the "Operation Rhino" project, there has been constant monitoring and evaluation of the project and where gaps were identified, interventions were made. It is initiatives such as the Operation Rhino project that the Department hopes will further strengthen the fight against rhino poaching in 2013.
Among several interventions since the start of the rhino poaching crisis has been the process of consultation with stakeholders by the Rhino Issue Manager, Mr Mavuso Msimang. Draft recommendations emanating from the RIM process were presented to the Minister in October 2012 and Minister Molewa requested further clarification and details relating to the recommendations. The final report was submitted to the Department and the recommendations contained in the report will be presented to the Minister in due course.
The Rhino Issue Management (RIM) team, which had based its report on the input and contributions made by a comprehensive range of stakeholders through extensive consultations across the country, looked at the key categories of rhino conservation; rhino safety and security and rhino commerce and trade.
Integral to the RIM team's findings is that there is no single solution to the rhino poaching scourge. From this, it is quite clear that our efforts will pragmatically require the employment of a range of strategies along several fronts.
As part of our efforts in the war against rhino poaching, the Department of Environmental Affairs also used legislation as a tool to curb rhino poaching and in 2012 published and implemented revised norms and standards for the marking of rhinoceros horn and for the hunting of rhinoceros for trophy hunting purposes. These norms and standards have put in place stricter controls for the issuing of rhino hunting permits, hunting of rhino and the transportation of the horn, which resulted in a significant reduction in the number of hunting applications received; from 222 applications in 2011 to 90 in 2012.
Comments Post a comment