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Tourism operators, however, warn of damage to rhino habitats. Ultimate Safaris secured High Court interdicts in October and December 2024 to halt mining, arguing it would threaten endangered black rhinos and harm the tourism industry. Four black rhinos were translocated to the Sorris Sorris conservancy under the Black Rhino Custodianship Scheme between 2005 and 2010, while another operator held a mining licence in the same area until 2019 without facing court action.

An unregulated trade in pelargonium, a protected species, is causing environmental destruction across Lesotho. Five people were recently found guilty of illegally dealing in pelargonium. They were fined M200 (equivalent to R200). In a scathing judgment, magistrate Thabang Tapole found serious flaws in the government's permitting system and said laws should be updated to effectively deter people from breaking environmental laws. He also highlighted how local harvesters are paid "peanuts" for a product that sells at high prices internationally.

South Africa, where 79% of the world's rhinos live, said it aims to come up with a plan by the end of 2030 to dismantle an almost half-century ban on trading the endangered animals' horns. The proposal, contained in a draft of the country's first rhino biodiversity-management plan released late Tuesday, is controversial because poaching of the animals for their horns has decimated their populations across Africa. The horns are ground into powder and sold in east Asia where they are falsely believed to cure cancer and other ailments.