Question NW2859 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
13 October 2023 - NW2859
Msimang, Prof CT to ask the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
Whether, considering that rhino poaching has been declared a national priority crime, he shares a joint corresponding database with the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and the Minister of Police, of all rhino poachers (a) who have been arrested and (b) details regarding the (i) trial and custody status, (ii) convictions, (iii) prison status and (iv) the associates of each person in order to understand the linkages and/or networks; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
(a) There is currently no database that is shared among the Ministers. The National Integrated Strategy to Combat Wildlife Trafficking (NISCWT) recently adopted by Cabinet requires law enforcement agencies to nationally consolidate all forms of wildlife compliance and enforcement efforts, which would enhance the sharing of the information, cases enrolled and identification of linkages, networks, and associations.
Various stakeholder forums have been established between the NPA, DFFE, SAPS and DPCI inter alia, addressing the sharing of information and identification of linkages and association between persons and networks, to institute organised crime prosecutions and to centralise cases, where an association or linkages between the accused persons have been identified.
With respect to information about people who have been arrested, law enforcement agencies are unable to share information relating to cases under investigation that link perpetrators to other persons or networks. The identification of networks and persons involved in these offences are intelligence-based. This information can only be shared between the law enforcement agencies with an investigative mandate, viz. DFFE, SAPS and the DPCI.
Working together, law enforcement agencies managed to achieve a conviction rate of 99% in relation to the cases involving rhino poaching over the five (5) year period. This is significant considering the challenges associated with identifying and arresting perpetrators of these heinous crimes.
(b) With respect to (i) trial and custody status; (ii) convictions of rhino poachers, the NPA manually monitors the progress on rhino related cases. The table below represents rhino poaching cases that were manually collated for the past five years:
|
YEAR |
NUMBER OF FINALISED CASES |
NUMBER OF CONVICTIONS |
NUMBER OF ACQUITTALS |
NUMBER OF PERSONS CONVICTED |
|
2019-20 |
41 |
41 |
0 |
59 |
|
2020-21 |
42 |
40 |
2 |
63 |
|
2021-22 |
46 |
46 |
0 |
72 |
|
2022-23 |
65 |
65 |
0 |
94 |
|
2023-24 |
21 |
21 |
0 |
28 |
|
TOTAL |
215 |
213 |
2 |
316 |
With respect to (iii) prison status and (iv) associates of each person, the NPA can report that in the first six months of this financial year (2023-24), and through the efforts of the relevant law enforcement agencies and the NPA, 28 offenders were convicted. The majority of sentences were custodial.
END