Government believes it's starting to win war against rhino poaching
A total of 359 alleged rhino poachers and traffickers have been arrested in South Africa since January 2017.
This according to the Minister of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, who briefed media on the progress of the implementation of the Integrated Strategic Management Approach of Rhinoceros.
"The number of arrests of alleged poachers in the Kruger National Park totalled 90, with 112 suspects arrested adjacent to the Kruger National Park.
"What this signifies is that there is beginning to be a push-back from inside the Kruger National Park itself, because people are now being arrested adjacent to the park even before they can get in."
Molewa says there has been a slight decrease in the number of rhino poached nationally.
"A total of 529 rhino have been poached since January 2017, compared to the 542 in the same period for 2016, representing a decrease of 13 rhino," Molewa says.
The minister says the Skukuza Regional Court in the Kruger National Park - aimed at assisting in combating rhino poaching-related offences - has been sitting since March 2017 and is now fully functional.
"The Stock Theft and Endangered Species Unit continues to play an instrumental role in ensuring rhino poaching cases are brought to trial and the unit's track record this year so far has been noteworthy," Molewa says.
"Since January, 15 cases have been recently finalised in court and resulted in the convictions where 22 perpetrators were sentenced to a total of 95 years imprisonment."