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The leaders of a prolific Chinese wildlife trafficking gang have been pardoned in Malawi, sparking concern that renewed poaching will help spread diseases including coronaviruses. Lin Yunhua and his wife Qin Hua Zhang, who led the notorious Lin-Zhang syndicate that operated across southern Africa, were among 15 people sentenced to jail as part of a major crackdown on ivory trafficking.

Fifteen people accused of financial crimes related to rhino poaching briefly appeared in the Nelspruit Commercial Crimes Court on Monday. Among the accused were two former field rangers and some of their relatives. While the majority of the respondents appear to be from a humble background, almost all of them are represented by private advocates. Although the State was ready to commence with trial proceedings, the matter was provisionally postponed to February 27 for possible pretrial conference.

Four days of court transcriptions seem be missing in the trial of alleged rhino poaching kingpin Joseph Nyalungu and his three remaining co-accused, Claude Lubisi, Aretha Mhlanga and Rachel Qwebana. This emerged as the quartet of former police officers briefly appeared in the Mpumalanga High Court this morning, January 17. Their appearance follows a postponement late last year to settle financial instructions in a trial that commenced more than three years ago, in September 2021.

While visitors to the Kruger Park were enjoying their peaceful festive season bush breaks, poachers were quietly mowing down rhinos within the Intensive Protection Zone. A staggering 27% of all rhinos poached in the Kruger National Park last year is understood to have been slaughtered in December. Three of these were slaughtered for their horns around Christmas, and another at New Year’s Eve, leaving two young calves orphaned.

The ongoing drought that has its grip on most parts of Namibia has not spared wildlife either, the environment ministry says.  The drought is also severely impacting conservation efforts, but has not yet led to increased mortalities, reduction of wildlife numbers or any endangered species, environment ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda stated.  While responding to questions by New Era, revealed the scarcity of rainfall in the affected regions has resulted in a dire shortage of water and grazing resources for wildlife.

There was no judgement for the third time. Since the last sitting of this matter, the presiding magistrate, Senior Principal Magistrate Joe Mkutu Omido has successfully attained the appointment as a Judge of the High Court. This matter is now "on notice", meaning that involved and interested parties will be notified when the judgement will be given. As a point of interest, the three magistrates that have handled this case have all been promoted to the High Court.

A Nairobi court has frozen ownership of a Mercedes Benz and a block of residential flats built on prime land within Allsops area in Ruaraka belonging to televangelist and businessman Jackson Mbugua Burugu. This is in connection with a case of poaching that is pending in court. Lady Justice Diana Kavedza of the Nairobi Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Division issued the freezing order following a suit filed by the Asset Recovery Agency. Burugu is a prominent Nairobi-based televangelist who is commonly referred to as 'Bishop'.