Trial of alleged rhino poaching kingpin Hugo Ras delayed again

The bail of all of the accused except Magagula was extended, including that of Ras, who was released on R25K bail in February.
The trial of alleged multimillion-rand rhino poaching syndicate leader Hugo Ras and his co-accused has been postponed for another year pending the outcome of a constitutional challenge to the regulations underpinning some of the charges.

A warrant was also authorized for the arrest of one of his co-accused, the syndicate’s alleged main hunter Mandla Magagula, but held over until the end of January next year, when he will have to appear in court or forfeit his bail.

Judge Pierre Rabie on Friday postponed the trial of Ras, a professional hunter of Potchefstroom, his wife Trudie, brother Anton, brother-in-law Arno Smith, former Hawks officer Willie Oosthuizen, former Pretoria attorney Joseph Wilkinson, game capture pilot Bonnie Steyn, Willie van Jaarsveld and Matthys Scheepers to the end of November next year.

This was pending the outcome of Wilkinson and Steyn’s constitutional challenge to the environmental regulations underpinning charges relating to the illegal possession, sale, and transport of rhino horn.

The application, which was previously delayed after the Environmental Affairs department gave notice that it wanted to intervene in the application, will be heard in the High Court in Pretoria in February next year.

The group were arrested by the Hawks in 2014. They face a range of criminal charges centering around rhino poaching and the alleged theft and illegal possession, transport, and sale of rhino horn. They also face charges of racketeering and money laundering.

The Judge granted an order relaxing the bail conditions of four of the accused and allowing Scheepers to fly within the borders of South Africa.

Wilkinson’s bail was on a previous occasion reduced from R100,000 to R25,000 and the court granted an order allowing him to apply for the renewal of his helicopter pilot’s license and to fly while applying for his license.

Prosecutor Joanie Spies told the court that Wilkinson had made representations about the charges to the NPA in March, which had been forwarded to the National Director of Public Prosecutions but to which no reply was ever received, with the office of the NDPP repeatedly claiming they had never received the application.

Judge Rabie said this was “absolute nonsense” and suggested that Spies or another member of the prosecuting team must get into their cars, drive to the NDPP’s office and personally hand over the application.

Spies, who said she found the situation “embarrassing”, assured the judge that this would be done.

The bail of all of the accused except Magagula was extended, including that of Ras, who was repeatedly refused bail but finally released on R25,000 bail in February following a successful bail appeal to the Appeal Court in Bloemfontein.

I think Nigeria has nothing on South Africa for utter corruption!

I had just landed in Joburg that morning when Andre, the guy who picked me up at the airport, got a call informing of the arrest of these guys.

RSA is beginning to make DCR and CAR look like bastions of democracy and good governance.

You can't overlay a US template for judicial proceedings over any African country. An undercover Parks officer here in Zimbabwe recently made 17 court appearances over more than a year to conclude a relatively minor case for the illegal trafficking of a dead pangolin. Numerous remands and appearances are the norm.

In the early '80s I worked as a nature conservation officer (read game warden) in the Bophuthatswana homeland in the then apartheid South Africa. Our court cases weren't a lot different to this one except for the long remands, so trust me when I say this is pretty much just how Africa works.

The big outcry here over this is over bail, but that's off of social media from a bunch of well-meaning but clueless koffee klatsch animal lovers. Bail is a statutory right in most countries, and not at all unusual in a case like this. At +/- 13:1, these bail figures aren't that high, but they are imposed along with other conditions such as the surrendering of passports, &c.

The long delays are cause for concern, though, but we will have to wait and see.