WILDLEX

On 17/03/2012, the game officers at Ikorongo Grumeti Game reserve heard bullets loud fired in the game reserve by unknown persons. The game officers then traced the poachers but didn’t find them.

On 23/05/2011, the OC – CID of Mugumu police station received information from two intelligence officers of Tanzania National Parks stationed at Serengeti National Park, that there were persons selling elephant tusks to a person putting up a hotel in Mugumu Township.

At the heart of this matter were the customary rights to marine resources. The appellants were tried at the Magistrate court and later appealed to the High Court in Mthatha. The Hight Court, however, held that their conduct was unlawful because they had not applied for an exemption as contemplated in the MLRA, granting them a permit to fish.

The court held that the appellants were protecting the lives of the cubs and as well as their legal interest in the survical of the cubs as the owners of the very expensive animals.

The appellant was found to have been complicit in the transaction where a fake rhino horn was sold in a police trap for R350 000. He was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. The appellant unsuccessfully appealed to the Free State High Court against his conviction and sentence.