Alleged poachers to present defence
Trio accused of conspiring to kill endangered creatures
Three men facing charges of conspiring to poach rhinos will have the opportunity to present their defence early in 2024.
Kenneth Chigaweni, 26, Thomas Joao Machele, 53, and Amos Ncube, 44, pleaded not guilty on Monday November 13, day one of proceedings in the Makhanda high court in the Eastern Cape’s third case based on conspiracy to poach.
Shona and XiTswa translators were in court for the two Zimbabweans and one Mozambican, who were arrested near Bedford on November 26 2020.
According to the indictment, they intended to poach rhinos at Ezulu Game Reserve between Bedford and Makhanda.
Chigaweni, Machele and Ncube are jointly charged on five counts: under the Riotous Assemblies Act’s common purpose provision, statutory conspiracy to commit theft of rhino horn; under the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act (NEMBA) together with the Riotous Assemblies Act, statutory conspiracy to commit a restricted activity involving rhinoceros; unlawful possession of a prohibited firearm; unlawful possession of ammunition; unlawful entering and remaining in SA.
In week one of the trial, senior counsel Buks Coetzee led evidence, with objections and requests for clarification from Legal Aid advocate
Vusi Sojada, for Chigaweni; private advocate Zama Somayele under instruction of Legal Aid, for Machele, and Charles Stamper of Charles Stamper Attorneys, for Ncube.
State witnesses include two police officers who conducted the roadblock where the men were arrested, Captain Mornay Viljoen who is head of the SAPS’ Jeffreys Bay-based stock theft and endangered species unit, SAPS forensic
and ballistic experts and a home affairs official.
According to the indictment the three men, two of whom are allegedly in SA illegally, “associated with each other in a common design… as a team of hunters and smugglers… in the execution of a common purpose to shoot and kill rhinoceros and steal rhinoceros horns to supply and sell to the illicit black market trade for
personal profit”.
The court heard that among the items seized in the November 2020 roadblock were an unlicensed .375 calibre rifle with a silencer and ammunition, along with a knife, saw, axe, slasher, torch and two rolls of tin foil in various backpacks. These, the indictment says, are the tools necessary to remove, conceal and convey a stolen horn.
Rhino conservation received a major boost in September 2022 with the Gqeberha sentencing of the Chitlongo three, and the Makhanda sentencing of the Chitiyo six. All were convicted on charges of conspiring to poach rhino.
These were the first convictions and sentencings achieved under a combination of legislation from the Riotous Assemblies Act, National Environmental Management Act and Firearms Act. These laws provide a powerful tool to pursue suspects who had often escaped prosecution in the past because of a lack of evidence.
In September 2022, the Chitiyo six were handed hefty sentences of between 16 and 20 years. Five of them escaped from custody in October 2022 but all were recaptured after periods ranging from three days to six months.
They appeared in the Makhanda High Court again, for sentencing, on Wednesday June 14 2023.
By midday on Thursday November 16, both police officers involved in the arrests of Chigaweni, Machele and Ncube had testified and been crossexamined. Viljoen, too, had testified and was cross-examined on Thursday afternoon and Friday.
Chigaweni, Machele and Ncube will have the opportunity to state their defence from March 4-8 2024, the dates set down for the continuation of the matter. Chigaweni is out on bail. Machele and Ncube remain in custody.