South African men sentenced in ‘world’s largest’ rhino horn trafficking case | South Africa
Two rhino horn smugglers have been convicted by a South African court in what police say is the world’s biggest case, bringing a partial end to a legal saga that has dragged on for almost two decades.
Dawie Groenewald and Tielman Erasmus faced more than 1,700 charges, ranging from illegal hunting and dehorning of rhinos to racketeering and money laundering.
Groenewald, described by South African police as the mastermind of the attempt, was sentenced to a 2 million rand (£92,000) fine or four years in prison after striking a plea deal with the state.
The Priority Crime Investigation Directorate, also known as the Hawks unit, said the other defendants were sentenced to 100,000 rand or three years in prison.
South Africa has about a third of the world’s critically endangered black rhino population, according to the International Rhino Foundation (IRF). It is also home to more than 75% of all southern white rhinos, whose global population is set to drop 10% to less than 16,000 by 2024.
The country is grappling with rhino horn smuggling, which will account for 81% of poaching cases in Africa by 2024, according to the IRF.
Rhino horn is used in traditional Chinese medicine, but it has no benefits for human health. Although it is difficult to obtain current estimates, 2022 research paper He claims that it can fetch tens of thousands of dollars per ton on the black market.
Groenewald and his brother Janneman were accused by the US justice department in 2014 of selling illegal rhino hunting trips to Americans under false pretenses.
South African police first started investigating the incident in 2007. They said 11 people were arrested in 2010, including “professional hunters, veterinary surgeons, a helicopter pilot and general employees involved in organized crime.”
But this was followed by more than 15 years of delays due to legal challenges, including at the constitutional court. Two of the original 11 defendants and 10 of the state’s 185 witnesses died while the case was ongoing, and the others emigrated.
Police said the case against three other people, Karel Toet, Marisa Toet and Koos Pronk, was postponed until August 20.
Last year, John Hume, a South African rhino farmer, was accused, along with five others, of being part of a horn-smuggling syndicate. Hume raised white rhinos on his farm and campaigned for the horn trade to be legalized and regulated in South Africa. When he sold his farm in 2023, he had around 2,000 rhinos on his farm and claimed he could no longer afford to run the farm.
Agency France-Presse contributed to this article
