Police appear set to continue with the anti-poaching unit Operation Neptune in the Southern Cape until the end of March.
This comes after the Cape Times ran articles on Monday about Operation Neptune's decision to pull out at the end of this month. With such a pull-out, perlemoen poaching at the behest of Chinese Triads and other crime syndicates could have rocketed.
The department of environment's marine and coastal management (MCM) and the Overstrand municipality's nature conservation department said on Thursday that there had been discussions with police and it had been resolved that Operation Neptune would stay in force until the end of March.
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This would give MCM and the municipality a crucial four months to implement Operation Trident, which would see extra staff and resources deployed.
'As far as we're concerned, the relationship will continue' Western Cape police Commissioner Mzwandile Petros said, however, that he knew nothing about Operation Neptune continuing. MCM and the Overstrand municipality had not spoken to him about it, he said, adding that he would have been informed about any change in plans.
He also said that, contrary to its claims, MCM had not paid him R4,8-million to run Neptune.
But Shaheen Moolla, chief director of compliance at MCM, said he had written confirmation from the SAPS "at director level" that the new call-ups for Neptune were in place and that the project would operate until March.
"I have a letter on my desk which says the police have been called up for Neptune and that they will stay till the end of March. As far as we're concerned, the relationship will continue," he said.
Asked about the R4,8m payment, Moolla said: "I've just signed off the balance of payments to Neptune. We pay as soon as we get the business plan, as required in terms of the Public Finance Management Act. Payment would have been effected last week."
The move was welcomed by Johann Erasmus, manager of the municipality's anti-poaching Marines.
"I'm very glad they'll still be there because we don't have the manpower to deal with the poaching until we get the new MCM inspectors and Marines."
Mike Tannett, of the residents' anti-poaching unit Seawatch, said: "This is good news. Operation Neptune pulled out of our area from Rooi Els to Kleinmond in October and since then the poaching here has doubled." - Environment Writer.
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This article was originally published on page 3 of Cape Times on November 26, 2004
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