Pretoria - After four years of delays, a 637-page indictment and 1 872 counts, the matter against the “Musina Mafia” was again postponed.
Dawie Groenewald and his 10 co-accused, were back in the dock at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Monday.
The criminal matter against the suspected rhino poaching kingpin, who ran Out of Africa Adventurous Safaris in Limpopo, and his co-accused, who face a litany of charges of assault, fraud, corruption, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, will be heard on August 4 next year.
The date is only provisional pending the outcome of a civil matter against the same accused.
Among the accused is Groenewald’s wife Sariette, two veterinarians Dr Karel Toet and Dr Manie du Plessis and several professional hunters.
Groenewald was arrested in September 2010 on 1 872 counts of racketeering, including the illegal trade of rhino horns.
More than 39 rhino were killed on Groenewald's farm, Prachtig.
Activists for Animal Africa claimed that Groenewald's syndicate fuelled the deaths of hundreds more rhino to “supply backward medical myths”.
Over 600 rhino have been poached in SA so far this year.
Pretoria News