This archive of published media articles about wildlife crime in Namibia aims to:
Public access to information is a vital component of ensuring community engagement in prevalent issues. Wildlife crime is one of the pressing environmental issues of our time.
Wildlife crime investigations are generally covert operations requiring utmost confidentiality to succeed. Investigations and prosecutions in complex cases may take months or even years to complete. For this reason, the information that can be released to the public without compromising cases is often limited. Nonetheless, the Namibian government strives to share as much information as possible with the public.
The Namibian media has welcomed this approach and regularly publishes statistics and feature articles on wildlife crime. These are entered into the database at regular intervals, creating a comprehensive archive of wildlife crime reporting in Namibia.
Explore your search results using the filter checkboxes, or amend your search or start a new search.
Francistown: Two men from Zimbabwe appeared in court Tuesday to face a count of capturing a protected game animal and another for entering Botswana unlawfully. According to the charge sheet, Kelvi Maposa, 43, and Matitshidza Sibanda, 33, both unemployed and from Plumtree in Zimbabwe, being persons not licensed, authorised or exempted unlawfully captured a pangolin being a protected game animal without a permit to do so.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
ZIM_2023_07_Zim duo in illegal possession of pangolin_Mmegi Online.pdf | 241.41 KB |
The rhino poaching trial in which Wiseman Mageba and Dumisani Gwala are co-accused was today (Thursday) adjourned to July owing to the State prosecutor’s unavailability because of a family tragedy.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
SA_2023_05_Rhino poaching kingpin_Trial adjourned_accuseds bail condition waived_Zululand Observer.pdf | 194.54 KB |
Day three of the rhino poaching trial involving alleged 'kingpin' Dumisani Gwala and his co-accused Wiseman Mageba is under way at Mtubatuba Regional Court, following cross-examination of the State witness yesterday (Wednesday). Magistrate Anand Maharaj, presiding over the case, on Wednesday cautioned State witness - former SAPS investigating officer of the case Jean Pierre van zyl Roux - about speculating about allegations that Gwala had the 'police in his pocket'.
Wiseman Mageba and his co-accused Dumisani Gwala have pleaded not guilty to rhino
poaching allegations in a case which resumed at Mtubatuba Regional Court today
(Tuesday). The pair face a combined 12 charges relating to the alleged illegal purchase and possession
of rhino horn, resisting arrest, and attempted murder.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
SA_2023_05_Mtubatuba rhino poaching accused plead not guilty_Zululandobserver.pdf | 192.3 KB |
Kruger National Park, the world's greatest refuge for rhinos, is losing them to poaching faster than they're being born. The park's last rhino may already be alive. It's time to declare an emergency.
Rhino poachers entering Kruger National Park are increasingly being run down by packs of unleashed hunting hounds in full cry, followed by a chopper tracking their hi-tech GPS collars. As the baying pack approaches, the poacher has no idea the dogs are trained to not attack. They won't bite him (there are legal implications), but if he tries to harm the dogs, rangers will fire from the chopper. The poachers know this and no dog has yet
been lost to a poacher’s bullet.
The Kruger National Park has a major rhino-poaching crisis, but that's just one of many mounting problems - and it's extremely worrying.
Franzistown: A tenderpreneur has pleaded with the court to be lenient when sentencing him after pleading guilty to illegal possession of an elephant tusk.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
BOT_2021_09_Tenderpreneur pleads guilty to illegal ivory possession_Mmegionline.pdf | 365.51 KB |
Francistown: It is more than two years since the state successfully appealed the case of the alleged SADC poaching ringleader, Dumisani Moyo, on urgency but has not acted on the appeal thereafter. In May 2019, Magistrate Lebogang Kebeetsweng acquitted and discharged Moyo of allegedly unlawfully being found in possession of a rhinoceros horn contrary to Section 70 of the Wildlife Conservation and National Parks Act.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
BOT_2021_09_Appeal Against SADC Poaching Ringleader Stalls_Mmegionline.pdf | 351.03 KB |
An intense debate continues to rage over whether the Namibian government should maintain its existing stockpiles of collected legal and confiscated illegal ivory. Trading in valuable wildlife products is one of the most important incentives for Namibia's coexistence with wildlife, especially rhinos and elephants, to support its conservation. There are two categories of stockpiles: Those held legally and those held illegally. Legally-held stockpiles consist of raw ivory, and are mostly owned by the government under the Controlled Wildlife Products and Trade Act 9 of 2008…
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
NAM_2020_12_The Fate of Ivory Stockpiles_The Namibian.pdf | 965.2 KB |
Wild animals are back. Kangaroos bounding through the streets of Melbourne, elephant herds passing through Indian villages, jackals in Johannesburg, leopards in Mumbai, wild boar in Bergamo and Verreaux eagles catching thermals above a silent Cape Town. And of course, inevitable cartoons of humans in surgical masks staring forlornly at animals playing on the sidewalk. Is lockdown good news for creatures - or for poachers?
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
SA_2020-05_How the Coronavirus changes poaching strategies_Daily Maverick.pdf | 457.64 KB |