MBOMBELA – Two Mozambican poachers who were arrested with the help of a Kruger National Park (KNP) tracking dog in 2013, were sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment each in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Tuesday.
The rising poaching statistics placed on record cast a dark shadow over this success.
Andelius Mukwebe (22) and Jeremano Thive (22) were arrested in the park’s N’wanetsi area on January 19, 2013. A tracking dog called Killer and his handler, an esteemed tracker in the employ of the park, managed to track them down where they were hiding under a shrub, close to the carcass of a rhino whose horn had been partially removed. They had two more from another presumably poached rhino in their possession.
Testimony pertaining to Killer’s conduct was considered in court. This assisted in securing a guilty verdict against Mukwebe and Thive.
Statistics presented to court on Tuesday made it very clear that the country is, however, far from winning the war on poaching. On the contrary, it is losing.
Senior state advocate Ms Isabet Erwee said more than 640 rhinos had been poached this year. The costs involved in fighting this war, were astronomical and allocated funds couldn’t keep up with increasing demands. According to an affidavit by sectional ranger Mr Bruce Leslie, the costs involved in training more tracking dogs like Killer, amount to between R10 000 and R15 000 per year. A dog handler’s employment and lodging costs up to R29 000 per month. The park has 32 tracking canines.
Where the money for these continuing expenses must come from remained an open-ended question after it was placed on record that the park’s rhino-poaching budget had already been exceeded by more than R80 million, as reported in Lowvelder of October 23.
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The magistrate, Mr Edward Hall’s pre-sentencing address elaborated on the sombre reality that Erwee brought to light. He produced national media reports from 2013 and 2015. Both reports said that a plan to combat rhino poaching should be made.
“According to economist Dawie Roodt, our rhino population doesn’t even have 10 years left with the way things are looking now,” he said.
Thive and Mukwebe had committed very serious crimes. According to Hall, this was also evident from the possible sentencing legislation prescribed for their crimes.
“For illegal entry of the park, you can be sentenced to up to five years in prison or a fine of R5 million. For committing an illegal activity pertaining to a protected species a sentence of up to R10 million or 10 years can be ordered.”
Both men received lesser sentences after the court considered specific circumstances, including their young ages and the fact that they had spent more than two years behind bars awaiting judgement.
They were sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for entering South Africa without valid passports, four years for illegally entering the KNP and seven years for each count of committing a restricted activity with rhinos.
