Draft amendments on rhino trade stump people

New draft amendments on the trade of rhino horn have many people stumped.

Last week, the Minister of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, announced draft regulations that could restart trade in the domestic rhino horn market, under strict conditions. The proposed regulations, if made into law, will allow for a person from another country who visits South Africa to export no more than two rhino horns for personal purposes.

Many are flabbergasted by the minister’s announcement, however, as only last year she appealed a High Court decision that lifted the 2009 moratorium. She further refused to submit a proposal to legalize trade in rhino horn to the 17^th Conference of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) that was hosted in Johannesburg last year. Way back in 2009, the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) instated a ban on the domestic selling of rhino horns.

This moratorium was first challenged in court by rhino breeder Mr Johan Kruger in 2012. During 2015, Mr Johan Hume, one of South Africa’s largest rhino breeders, also joined the cause. Both argued that the moratorium had fuelled the dramatic increase in rhino poaching. The High Court agreed with them and lifted the ban.

Minister Molewa’s appeal to have the ruling set aside has already been rejected by both the High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal.

To add insult to injury, said Kruger’s attorney, Mr Hennie Erwee from Musina, is that while she proposed the new draft regulations, the minister continued to waste money on a case to keep the 2009 moratorium in place. “Not only is she wasting valuable money and resources,” Erwee pointed out, “but also valuable time to save the rhino’s future.”

“The current draft regulations could take as long as two years, before there is a workable draft that can be presented to parliament to be passed as a law,” explained Erwee. The draft regulations further stipulate the permit conditions that need to be adhered to when “carrying out of certain restricted activities involving rhinoceros horn.”

The full document can be accessed on https://www.environment.gov.za/sites/default/files/gazetted_notices/nemba10of2004_draftregulationsforthedomestictradeinrhinoceroshorn.pdf.

Comment and input will be accepted until 8 March.

Date:19 February 2017

By: Isabel Venter

Isabel joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2009 as a reporter. She holds a BA Degree in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa. Her beat is mainly crime and court reporting.

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