Supreme Court rules in favour of rhino horn trade

Date: 30 May 2016 By: Isabel Venter

The court case to have the seven-year ban on selling rhino horn lifted, has come to an end and it is now legal to trade in rhino horn within South Africa.

Two rhino breeders, Messrs Johan Kruger and John Hume, managed to have the ban overturned last November, following a case in the Pretoria High Court (HC). The ban, however, remained in force, pending an appeal by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) to the HC.

Musina-based attorney Mr Hennie Erwee represented Kruger and Hume and predicted that none of the DEA’s appeals would be successful. Sure enough, last Friday the Supreme Court of Appeal refused the DEA's leave to appeal against the HC's decision, thereby allowing rhino horns to be sold legally again for the first time since February 2009.

The decision means that, within South Africa, the buying and selling of rhino horn is legal, subject to the obtaining of permits. It is, however, still illegal for rhino owners to trade with the horns internationally in terms of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).

According to Erwee, the DEA’s application was rejected because it failed to bring new legal arguments to the table. In addition, the first ruling was made by a full bench of judges, about which the HC said that it believed no other court would come to a different conclusion.

During the first court ruling, the HC judges agreed with Hume and Kruger that the moratorium had seemingly fuelled the dramatic increase in rhino poaching since 2009. Erwee pointed out, interestingly enough, that according to the latest poaching statistics, the most rhinos were poached in the Kruger National Park.

Several conservation groups, such as the World Wildlife Organisation, feel that the latest court decision could fan a further round of stockpiling and promote the illegal smuggling of local rhino horn to China and other Eastern countries for traditional oriental medicine.

In the meantime, provided that the DEA does not approach the Constitutional Court, local rhino owners can start applying for legal permits to store and sell their rhino horns. Owners will, however, still have to wait for CITES to lift the international ban, and that decision will probably be made during September during their next sitting. As for now, Erwee said he suspected that the DEA would drag their feet with the issuing of permits to rhino owners until then. “But we certainly feel like this is a big victory for us, that two farmers won this massive court battle with the Minister and her department. In the long run, we feel that the sale of rhino horn will have a positive effect on rhino conservation,” said Erwee.

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Isabel Venter

Isabel joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2009 as a reporter. She holds a BA Degree in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa. Her beat is mainly crime and court reporting.

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