CALLING FOR PUBLIC ENQUIRY TO INVESTIGATE SERIES OF SUSPICIOUS RHINO POACHING ARRESTS

CALLING FOR PUBLIC ENQUIRY TO INVESTIGATE SERIES OF SUSPICIOUS RHINO POACHING ARRESTS

Started
25 July 2017
Signatures: 117,282Next Goal: 150,000
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Started by RHINOS IN AFRICA

SUSPICIOUS RHINO POACHING ARRESTS AND RELATED HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN KWAZULU NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA 

INTRODUCTION

The new democratic South Africa, has suffered through tumultuous decades where many state-run institutions were compromised and have as a result, not been able to operate effectively.  

These state run institutions include, amongst other, the South African Police Services and the National Prosecuting Authority. 

Organs of the state were "captured" by certain corrupt individuals, this alarming fact was widely demonstrated during the public hearings of Zondo Commission of Enquiry,  which is also known as the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector. The enquiry commenced in 2018 and continued until 2022.

Corruption Watch and the Institute for Security Studies published an important Report which was submitted to the Zondo Commission. The contents of report revealed devastating findings about Crime Intelligence, the Directorate  for Priority Crime Investigation (the HAWKS), the National Prosecuting Authority and to a lesser degree IPID the Independent Police Investigative Directorate. 

This period of tremendous discourse might offer an explanation as to why the numerous suspicious arrests in KwaZulu Natal were allowed to continue unchecked.

SOUTH AFRICAN WILDLIFE BIODIVERSITY DID NOT REMAIN UNSCATHED DURING STATE CAPTURE 

State Capture was not limited to Eskom, SAA, Transnet and the SABC, a high-level government minister  was investigated by an international unit in 2016 for his role in rhino poaching and the illegal rhino horn trade, the same minister responsible for State Security was mentioned during the Zondo Commission of Enquiry into State Capture in January 2021.

The content of the retrospective report titled Where Have All the Rhinos Gone? published by the South African NGO, EMS Foundation, in December 2021, provides examples of how the tentacles of a state captured government reached into the Kruger National Park, besides numerous examples of the questionable involvement of current and ex-members of South Africa Police Service in rhino poaching activities and or the illegal trade of rhino horn.  

A second report was published by the same Foundation in February 2024, titled South Africa's Rhino Horn Stockpiles are Intrinsic to the Illegal Trade Where Have All the Rhinos Gone? Part Two.  

The content of this Report drew attention to the fact that Dumisani Gwala, whom the media dubbed as the rhino poaching kingpin of KZN (sic), and his co accused Wiseman Mageba, were both found not guilty after a nine year court battle.  

This judgement was not due to the fact that the judiciary is compromised, as some have tried to suggest, but rather due to the astonishing fact that there was no admissible, or in fact any evidence, to suggest that either of the men were ever involved in any wildlife crime.

Of concern, is the fact that two of the policemen who played significant roles in the entrapment, kidnapping, shooting of these men were both dismissed from the South African Police Services during the lengthy well-publicized legal battle. Details of their dismissals remain a darkly kept secret. 

The trial also revealed the fact that the entrapment of Wiseman Mageba and Dumisnai Gwala involved the misuse of rhino horn from state owned rhino horn stockpiles in KwaZulu Natal. A subject which is currently under investigation and is highlighted in the EMS Foundation 2024 Report.

In 2022 another one of these suspicious arrests resulted in a damages claim against the State which took place in the High Court of Durban where the ex Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, was successfully sued  .

THE SUSPICIOUS ARRESTS RELATED TO ALLEGED RHINO POACHING INCIDENTS  

Between 2005 - 2018 there were numerous entrapments and questionable arrests supposedly related to rhino poaching and the illegal trade in rhino horn in Northern KwaZulu Natal.  

There was also a  suspicious arrest of a man who was allegedly attempting to sell a piece of broken ivory.  He subsequently "committed suicide" while in detention, the details of the suicide are reminiscent of the apartheid era policing in South Africa. 

Official records confirm that numerous suspicious arrests were carried out and dockets were filed at a number of rural police stations, always by the same group of individuals, who included members of the South African Police services, and members of a well-known anti-poaching unit. 

On closer inspection the details of these arrests appear to be overly dramatic,  and comparatively speaking many of the details are similar.  During some of these arrests, the alleged rhino poachers and or trespassers lost their lives. 

Whilst these particular incidents received official police CAS numbers, many of these cases were never enrolled in a court of law.  This was not because the judiciary was compromised but rather because the evidence to support the arrests was insufficient, according to the National Prosecuting Authority.  For instance there was no DNA linking the alleged poachers to the rhino horn or the weapons that they were supposedly carrying.

It has been suggested that the motivation for these false arrests was two fold, one that rhino horn was misappropriated from the State owned rhino horn stockpile for use in the entrapments and then simply disappeared  and the other was financial compensation for successful arrests made.

There was a privately funded monetary reward system in place.  This fund was set up, designed to attempt to halt the rhino poaching crisis in KwaZulu Natal.  Payments were made from this fund for information which would supposedly lead to the successful arrest of rhino poachers.  The fund was generously supported locally and internationally by donors. 

It is alleged that this conservation fund was criminally manipulated.  Instead of paying a monetary reward for the successful prosecution of rhino poachers, a monetary reward was paid upon the presentation of a South African Police CAS number. The amount of money paid out was dependent on the difficulty of the investigation and the importance of the arrest.  

A HIGH LEVEL INVESTIGATION BY THE DIRECTORATE FOR PRIORITY CRIME INVESTIGATION

The  vast number of rhino poaching arrests, the numerous fatalities and the frequent use of the 252A entrapment method in northern KwaZulu Natal, compared to the low number of successful prosecutions alerted the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (HAWKS) in Pretoria.

A high level official investigation into these suspicious arrests was undertaken in 2015 and 2016 in KwaZulu Natal.  Researchers have met with the most senior members of this team in 2018 who confirmed the investigation and provided further valuable insight.

Whistle-blowers from within the anti-poaching unit that were on the scene at the questionable entrapments and arrests, donors to the aforementioned fund and other eye witnesses to some of these questionable entrapments and irregular arrests have given written statements to the original investigation team, these statements have been confirmed by researchers.

In 2016,  an international forensic investigator was requested by a specialised unit of South African Police, involved in this high-level investigation, to examine the weapons found at these suspicious rhino poaching entrapment "crime scenes". 

The weapons “found”  during these questionable arrests forensically matched the weapons used and found in the Kruger National Park in rhino poaching incidents and were traced to Mozambique.

While some have tried to dismiss these suspicious arrests as conspiracy theories, there is simply too much reliable evidence and far too many witness statements.

The forensic evidence was published in an international report in 2019.  The forensic investigators confirmed in the report that an anti-poaching unit was carrying out extra-judicial killings pretending that the targets were rhino poachers in order to receive bonus payments. 

Despite the questionable human rights abuses, according to written responses received from the South African Police Services, the high level investigation in KwaZulu Natal was never concluded, because “State Capture Investigations have taken  precedence."  

THE DUMISANI GWALA MATTER 

The arrest of Wiseman Mageba and Dumisani Gwala in December 2014 is one example of these suspicious arrests that were carried out in KwaZulu Natal. 

Despite, supposedly being an important national rhino poaching kingpin, details of the strategically and critically important  arrest of Wiseman Mageba and Dumisani Gwala and the prior investigation were never officially supplied to the South African public or the media by the South African Police.

Three days after their entrapments and arrests, on the 21st December 2014, the details of the dramatic entrapment of Dumisani Gwala were supplied, by their own admission, to the media by Barend Lottering, founder of Nyathi Anti-Poaching Unit and by Simon Naylor, who was the head of conservation at Phinda Private Game Reserve and one of the directors of the Munyawana Conservation Fund.

In intricate dramatic detail they described the entrapment of Dumisani Gwala which, according to them, took place after an eight-month undercover investigative operation.  

Dumisani Gwala, they concluded, was apparently responsible for 80% of the rhino poaching that took place in KwaZulu Natal, no mention was made of Wiseman Mageba's entrapment, kidnapping or arrest.

To give that comment some context, according to official government records, 99 rhino were poached in KwaZulu Natal in 2014.

There is, still however, no evidence linking Dumisani Gwala or his co-accused to any of the rhino poaching cases in KwaZulu Natal.

 If this evidence had been available or if indeed there really was a high-level eight month investigation prior to his arrest, his bail would obviously not have been R10 000.00.

Similarly, if Dumisani Gwala was a previously convicted criminal, as has been suggested, his bail would not have been R10 000.00.  

The Magistrate and Prosecutor, present at his bail hearing were both senior, well respected members of the judiciary. These are obvious facts that no-one seemed to question. 

THE #CONVICTGWALARHINOKINGPIN CAMPAIGN

In January 2016, the entrapment and arrest of Dumisani Gwala was  re-published on social media by Jamie Joseph after she had spent time at Phinda Private Game Reserve where she was given a photograph of a nearly naked Dumisani Gwala lying critically wounded in the sand and the official Police docket.

Jamie Joseph, the founder of Saving the Wild,  a registered charity in New Zealand, was commissioned, according to sources, by the Nyathi Anti-Poaching Unit and Directors of the Munyawana Conservation Fund to start a media campaign.  

It has been suggested that the motivation for this campaign was two fold.  Wiseman Mageba and Dumisani Gwala trial needed to be moved away from the Mtubatuba Magistrate's Court because the Magistrate was too familiar with other suspicious rhino arrests carried out by Warrant Officer Jean Pierre Van Zyl Roux and Barend Lottering.

Secondly,  attention needed to be diverted from the deliberations that were taking place about the findings of the high-level HAWKS investigation of suspicious rhino poaching arrests. 

Jamie Joseph informed her followers on Facebook that the Magistrate at Mtubatuba was corrupt.

Jamie Joseph's campaign continued for nine years until Dumisani Gwala and Wiseman Mageba were found not guilty

A DEPARTURE FROM THE TRUTH 

The police were required by law, in terms of a 252A entrapment and the National Prosecuting Authority to film the entrapment of Wiseman Mageba and Dumisani Gwala using body mounted cameras.   

The five year struggle by the Defence attorneys acting for Wiseman Mageba and Dumisani Gwala to obtain the official copies of the SAPS video recordings of the entrapment, kidnapping and shooting is well documented in the court records.  

The official Police videos of the entrapments were finally obtained in early 2019.  These videos were subsequently viewed with independent witnesses, the accused and officers from a specialised unit of South African Police Crime Intelligence Unit in 2019 in Richards Bay in KwaZulu Natal.

What is clearly evident from the official SAPS footage is that the evidence contained in the official South African Police docket written by the investigating Warrant Officer Jean Pierre van Zyl Roux and the contents of all of the supplementary affidavits provided by other members of the South African Police, who were all present at the entrapments does not match up to what was recorded on video. 

The content of the videos proves that the information provided to the media following the entrapment, kidnapping and arrest of Wiseman Mageba and the entrapment, shooting and arrest of Dumisani Gwala is factually and blatantly incorrect.

The harrowing undeniable details of the entrapments, including who was present at the entrapments, and details the near fatal shooting of an unarmed Dumisani Gwala and the kidnapping of Wiseman Mageba are highlighted on the videos.  

The National Prosecution Authority had been advised that the official evidence recorded on Police body cameras contradicted the affidavits and information contained in the Police dockets, yet they chose to persist with the criminal trial.  

SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE DISMISSED

In 2015, Warrant Officer Jean Pierre Van Zyl Roux was suspended from duty, co-incidentally this is at the same time that the high-level HAWKS investigation into the suspicious rhino poaching arrests was taking place.  

This investigation was completed in 2016, and co-incidentally Warrant Officer Jean Pierre van Zyl Roux was dismissed in 2017. 

According to the official court records, and testimony presented in court on the 20th and 21st June 2019, Van Zyl Roux stated that he involved two undercover agents from Police Crime Intelligence who were based in Pretoria in the entrapment of Wiseman Mageba and Dumisani Gwala. 

According to numerous media reports, in April 2021, one of these SAPS agents, a former Commander of a Kidnapping Unit in Crime Intelligence in Pretoria, was arrested by the HAWKS for extortion after an internal investigation was carried out.

Following these dismissals, there should have been serious concern on the part of the National Prosecuting Authority  about the questionable reliability of two of the leading witnesses for the state in the Wiseman Mageba and Dumisani Gwala matter.

NO RHINO HORN WAS EXCHANGED IN THE OFFICIAL ENTRAPMENTS

The official charges on the original charge sheet in the Wiseman Mageba and Dumisani Gwala matter clearly state that it was their intention to deal in rhino horn, these charges are clearly recorded and signed by Warrant Officer Jean Pierre van Zyl Roux yet the content of videos provide no such evidence. No rhino horn is exchanged in either video. 

The subsequent charge relating to the attempted murder of a policeman during the entrapment, was a fact curiously included in the official affidavits signed by the aforementioned state witnesses both of whom have been charged with corruption.

Furthermore, according to court records, on the 24th April 2019 when the trial actually began at Mtubatuba Magistrates Court, the attempted charge of murder was officially added the during the court proceedings.

Unfortunately, this critical last minute addition puts into question the integrity and involvement of the National Prosecuting Authority in this unfortunate matter.

The content of the official Police videos clearly demonstrates there was no attempt by Dumisani Gwala to murder a policemen, what the video does clearly show is that Dumisani Gwala was shot numerous times whilst he was unarmed.

ALLEGATIONS OF A CORRUPT JUSTICE SYSTEM 

Despite the obvious human rights abuses endured by both of the accused in this matter, the most damaging allegations against the South African judicial system have been by those published by Jamie Joseph from 2016 to date.

These allegations state that bribes have been paid to named, justice officials in order to keep Dumisani Gwala out of the courtroom and out of jail. 

In January 2017, according to Joseph, she was able to provide the necessary proof of the allegations that she made in 2016. 

Underscoring this narrative, she said that two witnesses contacted her via email on her website and in order to protect their identities she named them Fresh and Tortoise. She described her relationship with them in detail in a radio interview broadcast in New Zealand in October of 2017.  

The “evidence” provided by Fresh and Tortoise was apparently fact checked by ex Warrant Officer Jean Pierre van Zyl Roux and Colonel Jason McGray. 

Fresh admitted, according to Joseph, that he was employed by Advocate Ngwenya during 2015 and the early part of 2016, that he was hired to deliver cash bribes to Magistrate Ngcobo in the matter between the state and Warrant Officer Christopher Gumbi. 

Fresh also admitted, according to Joseph, that he was hired to pay Magistrate Shandu by attorney Ms Linda in the rhino related matter between the state and Dumisani Gwala.

Based upon this tested (sic) evidence,  according to media reports, McGray recommended that Magistrate Shandu be recused on the 9th of October 2017 at the Ngwelezane Magistrates's Court.

Advocate Noko, head of the NPA in KZN stated in a media release at the time, that the evidence in Fresh’s affidavit was not conclusive. Fresh’s affidavit and the supporting affidavits by McGray, Joseph and Van Zyl Roux were also not admitted into evidence.

Instead Prosecutor Yuri Gangai was removed as the prosecutor on the Wiseman Mageba and Dumisani Gwala matter.  

The allegations in Fresh’s affidavit are serious and as a result, the Gwala matter was transferred from Ngwelezane Court to back to the Mtubatuba Court. This transfer caused yet further unnecessary delays in the trial which has been very costly for the State and for the defendants. 

McGray is a lead investigator in the Magistrates Commission enquiry into the conduct of Regional Court President for KwaZulu Natal Division Judge Eric Nzimande.

The Fresh allegations have, according to media publications, also suggested that there maybe a link between Magistrate Ngcobo and Magistrate Shandu and Regional Court President Eric Nzimande.

However, the secretary for the Magistrates Commission stated, in writing in 2018, that there is no evidence linking any rhino related matters to the Regional Court President Eric Nzimande.

The allegations supposedly made by Fresh and Tortoise, and checked by the South African Police service, are serious and damaging to the reputation of the South African judicary.

Subsequent research has revealed the true identity of Fresh and Tortoise as well as their alias's.

The content of Fresh (and Tortoise) Affidavits was intended to be admitted into evidence to be used against Magistrate Ngcobo,  Magistrate Shandu, lawyers Mr Ngwenya and Ms Linda supported by confirmatory affidavits from Jamie Joseph, JP van Zyl Roux and Colonel McGray on the 9th October 2017 during the trial of Wiseman Mageba, Dumisani Gwala and Aubrey Dlamini at Ngwelezane Magistrate's Court.

FRESH AND TORTOISE RETRACT THEIR AFFIDAVITS 

The content of new Affidavits provided in September 2021 by the people known as Fresh and Tortoise with their true identities suggest that they were coerced into providing the contents of the Affidavits against the judiciary by Jamie Joseph and ex Warrant Officer Jean Pierre van Zyl.  

They have signed Affidavits retracting all the information previously given to Jamie Joseph, Colonel McGray and the Magistrates Commission.

Furthermore, Fresh and Tortoise have stated in Affidavits in 2021, that the information contained in affidavits and interviews conducted with Alastair Leithead from the BBC and used for the article published by  Sam Sole from amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism was false.  

MINISTER OF POLICE SUED IN SUSPICIOUS FALSE RHINO POACHING ARREST IN KWAZULU NATAL 2022

The wheel of justice is turning slowly, another suspicious entrapment and arrest was highlighted in 2022 in the matter between Christopher Bhekani Gumbi and the Minister of Police CASE NUMBER: D7156/2016    which was reported in numerous media articles one of which is titled Gumbi Fell Prey to Dishonest Cops

Three weeks after the entrapment of Dumisani Gwala, Warrant Officer Christopher Gumbi was investigating an illegal operation in Jozini involving the rendition of foreign national persons from Mozambique then luring and placing them in certain game parks in KwaZulu Natal and then killing them under the guise of being rhino poachers.

Whilst investigation the involvement of the South African Police in these kidnappings, entrapments and arrests was ongoing he was trapped and arrested by the very same people he was investigating.

His arrest was obviously an attempt to prevent him from continuing any further investigation into the suspicious arrests of alleged rhino poachers.  

As mentioned previously, Warrant Officer Christopher Gumbi’s case to which the aforementioned High Court matter refers, was dismissed by Magistrate Ncgobo.  

In 2022 he successfully sued the Minister of Police for this wrongful arrest. 

The Judge in the High Court in Durban also stated  that Christopher Gumbi was the subject the content of newspaper articles clearly instigated by the same individuals who arrested him.  

WISEMAN MAGEBA AND DUMISANI GWALA ARE FOUND “NOT GUILTY”

After nine years on the 28th July 2023, the Magistrate at the Mtubatuba found that the evidence from the State was inadmissible. All charges were dropped against the two accused except for one - resisting arrest.  

INTIMIDATION 

There are currently three open Police enquiries about intimidation of witnesses to these suspicious rhino poaching arrests.

There is an open investigation into the assassination of a witnesses involved with exposing the truth about these suspicious arrests in KwaZulu Natal.

Furthermore valuable State resources, and the South African Police Services have been inadvertently used to implicate ordinary South Africans in various crimes in order to intimidate them in order to keep quiet about these suspicious arrests in KwaZulu Natal.  

Ordinary South African citizens have been arrested only to have the matters thrown out of court due to lack of credible evidence. 

Furthermore, there is a forensic investigation  into the infiltration of the South African Police computer network where false information has been recorded about ordinary South Africans in order to carry out these false arrests and to tarnish the reputations of witnesses.

CLASS ACTION LITIGATION

Following the successful High Court matter involving Christopher Gumbi, victims of these false arrests, the people falsely arrested as rhino poachers and the family members of the deceased victims killed as alleged rhino poachers can satisfy the court that there is a case that is legally tenable and that a prima facie case exists on the evidence they can provide. 

Section 38(c) of the South African Constitution provides the basis for any natural person to bring a class action in respect of an infringement or threat to a right in the Bill of Rights (Chapter 2 of the Constitution). 

The South African government is apparently committed to wiping out corruption.  We welcome the opportunity for the completion of the high-level investigations in Northern KwaZulu Natal and we request a public enquiry. 

©️Rhinos in Africa 2024. All Rights Reserved. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Decision-Makers

  • PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSAPRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA
  • Investigating DirectorateNational Prosecuting Authority
  • National Director of Public ProsecutionsNational Prosecuting Authority
  • Communications OfficeNational Prosecuting Authority
  • Specialised Commerical Crime UnitNational Prosecuting Authority