The manner in which rhino poachers operate within South African parks can best be described as ruthlessly efficient.
Well equipped criminals are able to shoot and dehorn a rhino, sometimes in broad daylight, and escape without a trace and, in some cases, it’s several hours before authorities even discover the carcass of the felled animal.
Something is going terribly wrong in the war against poaching.
The problem, according to some experts, is that a large number of poaching incidents are “inside jobs” and not even the proposed introduction of highly specialised anti-poaching units could reduce poaching if the collaboration between poachers and rogue rangers is not addressed. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife said this week that it was in the process of selecting members for its anti-poaching teams, which would be modelled on the SAPS’s task teams.
To date, 54 rhinos have been slaughtered in SA this year – six of them in KZN – and there has been evidence that an increasing number of these deaths are occurring as a result of corrupt officials feeding information to syndicates.
Ezemvelo Rhino Security Strategist Jabulani Ngubane says that authorities have discovered that fighting poaching is not a straightforward battle. KZN was the only province to see a reduction in poaching incidents last year and Ngubane believes that the reduction is a result of a better understanding of syndicates and robust intelligence gathering which has assisted in exposing “khaki collared crime” – the term used to describe the involvement of park officials in poaching activities.
“We didn’t know that some of our people were involved with the syndicates until we started to understand how the syndicates worked.
“We have come across instances where they have tried to bribe our staff members and, in certain cases, have succeeded. We are dealing with sophisticated syndicates and the guys on the higher levels of the operation have a lot of money.
“Fortunately we have been able to clamp down on this problem to a large extent,” Ngubane says.
Ngubane said that winning the intelligence war was key to eradicating poaching.
“In 2011 we were much more organised than before. We put a lot of resources into fighting poaching, but more importantly we have been recruiting locals, organising informant networks and putting a lot of focus on gathering intelligence and understanding the syndicates.
“It really is a very multifaceted approach which has seen us be very proactive,” he said.
“What we realised is that the syndicates are doing their homework. It’s not a case of them just coming in and randomly shooting a rhino. They know well in advance where the animal is and, in many cases, are getting their information from the authorities.
“The syndicates are able to get their information from various sources linked to the parks and we need to stop this from happening.”
According to Ngubane Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife dismissed four of its staff members last year and transferred another four out of the parks for their suspected links to poachers. The two most recent arrests were made in October. Ngubane says his organisation will continue to work with law enforcement in targeting khaki collared crime in 2012.
“Where we have come across this sort of thing, we have dealt with it very seriously and we will continue to do so,” he said. “It is disappointing to have people on the inside helping the poachers, but in any operation you have inside people, whether it’s the police or the banks. What is important is to be prepared for it and always be a step ahead of the syndicates.”
One way to stay ahead of poachers is to be better equipped and better trained, says Ngubane.
Ezemvelo currently operates two surveillance aircraft and while the organisation’s current crop of rangers has played an important role in reducing poaching in the province, Ngubane says that more firepower is needed.
Ezemvelo is in the process of assembling a new anti-poaching unit that will rival the country’s best special forces teams.
“We are forming a specialised unit that will be modelled on the SAPS task team. They will be extremely well trained and be able to operate in difficult and dangerous conditions,” says Ngubane.
The unit will be trained by the SANDF and SAPS.
“We need this team to be multi-skilled. They need to be able to work in the pitch dark but must also know how to make arrests. They will be deployed on land and from helicopter. It will be a unit that can be airborne in 10 minutes and conduct anti-poaching operations throughout KZN. They will operate on a provincial level. This is part of our plan where we are moving away from a situation where we react only when a rhino is down.”
Ngubane says that the biggest role of the new unit will be to increase the number of poaching arrests made.
“The idea is for this team to be able to respond rapidly to information we receive regarding poachers entering the parks, intercept the suspects and make arrests. This is how we are going to be successful, by making arrests.” - Sunday Tribune