The move to oust the environment minister exposes a deeper hijacking - of the National Elephant Heritage Strategy, of policy integrity and of conservation itself. When South Africa's National Elephant Heritage Strategy (NEHS) was gazetted this year, it looked like a triumph of inclusive environmental policy - a humane, forward-looking plan to celebrate elephants, not just as wildlife, but as part of our shared cultural and spiritual heritage. It promised to move the country beyond the exploitative logic of the past, into a new era of coexistence and respect. But the same progressive vision that made the NEHS such a breakthrough has now placed its strongest defender, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Dion George, in the crosshairs. His potential firing is not just a personnel change - it is the culmination of a campaign by powerful private wildlife interests to recapture the department and reverse two decades of reform. The story of how the Elephant Indaba was staged and spliced into the Heritage Strategy is not a sideshow; it's the mechanism of capture itself. Internationally, his opening statement at the COP30 LeadersÄ Summit in Belém, Brazil - drawing a hard line against captive breeding, the rhino horn trade and the commodification of wildlife – was both principled and forward-looking, but would have left wildlife breeders seething. But clarity has made enemies. Pressure to get rid of him has been building behind closed doors. Complaints were filed. "Performance reviews" were whispered. The party line shifted. And then, suddenly, DA leader John Steenhuisen asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to replace him with Willie Aucamp, a long-time ally of the wildlife-ranching and hunting lobby.