Top SIU officer suspended

Project manager gets reprimanded for fish poaching in Wild Coast

A senior investigating officer attached to the Special Investigating Unit in Mthatha has been suspended after being found guilty of poaching 28 crayfish and 15 copper steenbras.

Crayfish and copper steenbras are marine protected species.

The suspension of Hein Hechter, a project manager of the SIU, was announced in a statement on Wednesday by the unit’s chief governance officer advocate Mahlodi Muofhe.

Muofhe said that although Hechter had a fishing permit, the law only allowed recreational fishermen to catch one steenbras per person per day. Hechter was arrested on July 22 2016, together with four friends and two crew during an antipoaching operation carried out by police and officials from the department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

Muofhe said Hechter had compromised the integrity of the unit and brought the SIU into disrepute.

According to the statement, Hechter was found with the fish at Mdumbi on the Wild Coast in 2016.

“Mr Hechter paid an admission of guilt fine for his transgression of the law.

“By paying an admission of guilt fine in terms of the criminal procedure act … Mr Hechter is thus deemed to have been convicted and sentenced by the court of law in relation to his violation of the law.”

Hechter was suspended after the SIU head advocate Andy Mothibi demanded action against him.

In an interview with the Dispatch in 2016, Hechter said the fish had been caught over a three-day period within the quota of one per person.

On Wednesday he admitted to the Daily Dispatch that he had had one fish over the limit and agreed with the charges.

However, he was “very aggrieved at the manner the unit has handled the matter …”

Crayfish and copper steenbras are marine protected species