Rhino horn trade legal in SA

RHINO horns will be able to be bought and sold legally in South Africa for the first time in eight years following a ruling by the Constitutional Court yesterday.

The court dismissed an appeal by the Department of Environmental Affairs aimed at maintaining a ban on domestic rhino horn trade, SA’s Private Rhino Owners’ Association said.

The association and other plaintiffs have waged a fiveyear court battle against the ban, which has been in force since 2009, the association’s chairman Pelham Jones said.

The decision of the Constitutional Court was now final, making it possible to legally sell rhino horn inside South Africa, Jones said.

“We welcome the ruling. We believe it is a right we have been entitled to,” he said.

A global ban in the horn trade, which is regulated by a UN convention, remains in place, which means horn acquired legally in South Africa cannot be exported from the country.

South Africa has an estimated 20 000 rhinos. Nearly 40% of the country’s rhino population live on private game reserves, according to Jones.

Conservationists are concerned that relaxing bans on rhino horn trade could increase poaching.

The government has not revealed the size of its rhino horn stockpile but the Private Rhino Owners’ Association estimates its members have around six tonnes and reckons the state has close to 25 tonnes. The combined 31 tonnes could fetch R27bn by some estimates.

Conservationists have expressed concerns that domestic buyers could also illicitly supply markets in Vietnam and China, where demand for rhino horn – coveted as an ingredient in traditional medicine – has triggered a wave of poaching.

Jones said the Private Rhino Owners’ Association was consulting with security firms to ensure “blood horns” did not enter the market. – dpa and Reuters