Shouldn’t South Africa receive the same level of international scrutiny as Vietnam and Mozambique? It ought to be also noted that in July 2013, an investigative report by Fiona MacLeod and Estacio Valoi revealed that South African trophy hunters are operating a rhino horn trafficking ring out of Mozambique. The kingpin is said to be a “safari outfitter with a hunting concession close to Corumana dam” who pays bribes to the local police chief to have charges against his operatives dropped. There is growing concern that South Africa’s judicial focus is on “poachers” and couriers (which needs to be tightened even more still anyway) , rather than the organizers and facilitators higher up in the criminal network. Cronyism, racketeering, money laundering, violation of national and international wildlife conservation laws, and a multitude of sinister enterprises built on rhino horn trafficking have flourished under South Africa’s convoluted and seemingly unregulated private game ranching industry. There seems to be a glaring lack of accountability, and as the primary source country for illegal rhino horn, shouldn’t South Africa receive the same level of international scrutiny as Vietnam and Mozambique?
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 19:10:30 +0000
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