Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs calls for the immediate arrest of the self-confessed rhino horn poacher, Mr Guang Jiang Guang
The Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs is deeply concerned by the shocking revelations aired during an Al Jazeera television documentary entitled The Poachers Pipeline, in which Mr Guang Jian Guang confesses his involvement in the illegal trade of rhino horn.
“The Committee further notes the allegations by Mr Guang linking the Minister of State Security, Mr David Mahlobo, in this illicit trade. These are indeed very serious allegations, considering the plight of South African rhino populations in the face of an ongoing criminal onslaught on this iconic, flagship species. South Africans and the rest of the world have come to appreciate rhinos as an indisputable South African cultural and natural resource,” said the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs, Mr Phillemon Mapulane.
“Rhino poaching is the worst wildlife crime our country has ever experienced. It has reached epidemic proportions over the past couple of years, at a great cost to our nation in terms of the ecology and human and financial resources. It is a crime that all South Africans must unite in combating. We must never forget about the lives of our brave rangers and other South Africans lost in the battle to protect this iconic species. This is the reason why during a colloquium on rhino poaching held in September 2016 the Portfolio Committee called for the introduction of legislation to treat the killing of rhinos as a serious crime, which will warrant minimum sentences of not less than 15 years,” said Mr Mapulane.
“It is in this regard that we call on the South African Police Services (SAPS) to immediately arrest this self-confessed killer and illegal trader of our highly-valued rhino species and to undertake a thorough investigation of all the relevant allegations he has made,” Mr Mapulane said.
“We are particularly concerned about the allegations by Mr Guang linking Minister Mahlobo to this crime as, if left unattended they could undermine the integrity of government’s efforts to dismantle international rhino poaching criminal syndicates. Furthermore, the allegations about the Minister of State Security visiting the establishment of people known to be part of criminal syndicates terrorising our biodiversity assets is more worrying, as it can undermine the confidence of our people in our best efforts in fighting this crime.
“It is therefore in this context that we call for the thorough investigation of these allegations by the relevant authorities so we can get to the bottom of this. We welcome and appreciate that Minister Mahlobo himself has called for the investigation of this allegations against him,” Mr Mapulane said.
South Africans must never forget that poachers kill two or three rhinos on average every day in the Kruger National Park.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact:
Faith Kwaza
Tel: 021 403 8062
Cell: 081 377 0686
Email: fkwaza@parliament.gov.za
