Conservationists want probe over Mahlobo rhino horn report
SA Hunters said that the government had a lot to answer to if claims that the State Security Minister David Mahlobo has ties to a rhino horn smuggler were true.
|||Johannesburg - The South African Hunting and Game Conservation Association (SA Hunters) said on Monday that the government had a lot to answer to if the allegations against the State Security Minister David Mahlobo being linked to a known rhino horn smuggler were true.
On Sunday Al Jazeera aired a documentary which purportedly showed a link between Mahlobo and a key figure in the illegal rhino horn trade.
“Government has a lot to answer for,” said SA Hunters' CEO Fred Camphor.
“We call for an urgent investigation into allegations that Minister Mahlobo and other government officials are allegedly associated with individuals involved in international wildlife trafficking, bribery and corruption.
“Ideally, the investigation should be led by an independent judicial commissioner that cannot be influenced politically or financially by anyone that is under suspicion of being involved in or associated with individuals allegedly linked to rhino poaching syndicates.”
Mahlobo had earlier on Monday denied any involvement in rhino poaching and described the Al Jazeera documentary as “extremely reckless and mischievous”.
In a strongly worded statement, issued on his behalf by the Government Communication and Information Systems, Mahlobo said he had “noted with grave concern and disappointment the unfounded and slanderous allegations made against him”.
The documentary titled “Al Jazeera Investigates: The Poachers Pipeline” which was aired on on Sunday, links the state security minister to the illegal rhino horn trade due to Mahlobo's visits to the Mbombela Spa owned by self-confessed criminal Guan Jiang Guang.
In the documentary the Chinese national claims the state security minister as his acquaintance and showed pictures of the two together.
“If these allegations are true, the South African authorities and its security establishment have betrayed the citizens of this country, the conservation community, and the corporate sector that have been doing everything in their power to protect rhinos against poachers,” the association said.
Camphor said a vast amount of donor funding, time and expertise had been invested through private sector initiatives to stop rhino poaching and the allegations of ministerial involvement with individuals involved in rhino horn crime syndicates flew in the face of game rangers that risked their lives every single day to stop the killing of rhino, and who had lost their lives in the war against rhino poaching.
“The time to act is now. Any delaying tactics to investigate those who are implicated in wildlife trafficking will destroy what little trust remains in South Africa's security establishment,” Camphor said.
In 2012, SA Hunters established Tinyarhi, a registered public benefit conservation initiative that raised funds among its own members for the protection and promotion of biodiversity in South Africa. It includes the Rhinos Alive campaign that has been donating funds towards the establishment of the RhODIS Rhino DNA database, based at the University of Pretoria's Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at Onderstepoort.
The RhODIS database assists in gathering forensic evidence to bring rhino poachers to book.
African News Agency