The duo who allegedly transported 19 rhino horns and faced arrest led by the Hawks appeared in court last Thursday. While it seemed like a victory for crime syndicates centred around poaching, some were unsure about getting their hopes up in terms of the law running its course. This cynicism was a valid approach, as one of the co-accused was none other than alleged rhino-kingpin, Dawie Groenewald. One of Groenewald’s most publicised high court cases has faced 10 years of delays. The case ended up offering bail and is still ongoing. The other co-accused in the latest arrest was Schalk ‘AB’ Steyn, owner of Steyn Safaris.
And now as part of the latest dance with the law, the two have been granted R50 000 bail each, with the case being postponed to September 17. For context, the horns were valued at R2.6 million.
Now, taking into account that the matter was categorised as a schedule 5 offence as Mail & Guardian confers, many people are wondering why the court allowed bail, yet the Nelspruit Magistrates Court did. To take matters further, both of the accused didn’t even show up in court physically due to Covid-19 decontamination.
As for the bail order, it’s been granted with conditions – including passport surrender to the police, reporting once a week to the nearest police station, not interfering with state witnesses and informing the investigating officers if the accused want to leave their provinces.
Considering that in the last decade over 10 000 rhinos have been poached in SA as per Save The Rhinos,, two questions come to this journalist’s mind, writes Cape {town} Etc’s Ashleigh Nefdt.
- Is it Groenewald that seems to have an alleged magic touch with the law?
- Or is it that crimes of this nature don’t seem to be taken seriously enough in our country?
Picture: Unsplash