Rhino poaching syndicate receives tough sentencing

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Ammu Kannampilly

Magistrate Mike Coetzee handed down a 15-year imprisonment sentence to five of the six men involved in a rhino poaching syndicate, while the sixth one received an effective 10-year sentence in the Louis Trichardt Magistrate Court in Limpopo on Friday 11 March 2016.

According to South African National Parks spokesman, Reynold Thakhuli, the shooter, his helpers, transporters and the seller of the horns in Mozambique were arrested through the efforts of the SANParks Environmental Crime Investigators. They were found guilty for the illegal hunting and dehorning of a white rhino bull under Section 57 (1) of the National Environment Management: Biodiversity Act No 10 of 2004.

“In terms of this Act, a person may not carry out a restricted activity involving a specimen of a listed threatened or protected species without a permit issued in terms of Chapter 7. The six were found guilty of having perpetrated the alleged activity in the Mapungubwe National Parks & World Heritage Site in the Limpopo Province during July 2014.”

The six were Job Tlou, Percy Manengena, Johannes Podile Sematla, Lebala Sematla, Masolo Saul Sematla - sentenced to 15 years and Albino Fernando Sematla - sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

Thakhuli said that it should be noted that anyone who does anything that is illegal or untoward to South Africa’s wildlife would face the full might of the law. “As South African National Parks we applaud the Magistrate for applying the prescripts of the law in this case that lasted two years to finalise, but ultimately we are happy with the sentencing.”