Durban - The Department of Environmental Affairs remained mum on Wednesday about the names of the 10-member “panel of experts” that will shape the government’s position on whether to try to scrap the international ban on rhino horn trading.
This has fuelled speculation in some conservation circles that the panel might be weighted with members with an openly pro-trade stance, and that Environment Minister Edna Molewa may be considering appointing further panellists or co-opting extra advisory members to deflect criticism around its composition.
Last week, Molewa invited members of the public to make formal submissions to the panel, which would submit a final report to the government on whether South Africa should push to overturn a global ban on the sale of rhino horns as a way to curb the relentless poaching toll in a country that now protects more than 80 percent of Africa’s surviving rhinos.
The Mercury, along with other interested parties, sent questions to the department last week requesting the names of the panel members – but so far there has been no response.
Molewa confirmed last week that that the panel, appointed in April, had held two formal meetings after a cabinet decision last July to “explore the feasibility of South Africa tabling a proposal for the legalisation of commercial international trade in rhino horn” at the next meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cities) in 2016.
The only panellist who has been identified so far is the chairman, Fundisile Mketeni, the department’s deputy director-general of biodiversity and conservation.
Molewa said the panel might also “co-opt experts as the need arises” and also engage with various stakeholders during the public consultation process.
The Conservation Action Trust has questioned the department’s stance, and its failure to disclose the names of panel members.
“The appointment process has not been public or transparent and the names of the ‘shadowy panel’, apart from the chairperson, have been withheld despite repeated requests to the department that have been ignored,” said trust spokesman Francis Garrard.
Nevertheless, the trust said it had established the names of at least four panellists known to be in favour of trade. - The Mercury