Ban on rhino horn trading scrapped

The High Court in Pretoria ruled that the 2009 ban on domestic trade in rhino horn be lifted.

John Hume, a farmer from Mpumalanga and Johan Kruger, a farmer from Limpopo made an application to have the moratorium set aside.

Judge Francis Legodi lifted the ban due to a lack of public consultation.

“The applications by the applicants for the review and setting aside of the moratorium on domestic trade in rhino horns are hereby granted and the moratorium … is hereby reviewed and set aside for substantial non-compliance with consultative and participatory process by the members of sections 99 and 100 of NEMBA (The National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act),” he said.

Hume, who farms in Malelane south of the Kruger National Park, is the largest rhino farmer in the world, but told the court he could no longer afford to spend R5 million a month to preserve his herd and would be forced to dispose of 1200 rhinos if the ban remained in place.

"I hope the world will understand that if I don't sell rhino horn, my 1 186 rhinos will be dead in 10 years time," he said.

Hume has been advocating for the legalisation of rhino horn trade for years saying that dehorning rhinos was not enough.

"When we first dehorned our rhinos, we had about three years of no poaching, but then I think poachers realised that you can't remove the whole horn when dehorning and that it grows back again," he said.

The Department of Encironmental Affairs, at the time of publishing, could not comment yet on the ruling and on a possible appeal from their side. Hume said thet he hope they will take the rhino into account.

"f I don't sell rhino horn it's going to be many dead rhino. Not because I want to, but because I won't have the money to protect them."

Hume said he recently spent R10 million on a radar tower to help protect his rhino from poachers, because foot soldiers are the Achilles heel when it comes to their protection.

Hume added that the lifting of the moratorium does not mean it will be open trade.

"We will still need a permit to sell rhino horn and the government will put certain conditions on the trade of that rhino horn."

(File photo: Gallo Images)