Eddie Koch
Four lions, that were shot dead and skinned illegally=20 by a pastor of the Full Evangelical Church on a farm=20 near Hoedspruit, are at the centre of a growing row=20 over illicit hunting operations by white farmers in the=20 Northern Province.
Conservation officials in Phalaborwa told the Mail Guardian they had the pastor, Marthinus Cronje,=20 arrested and charged on two counts of illegal hunting=20 after he baited the lions, from a neighbouring game=20 reserve, with cow’s meat and shot them this week.
The officials confiscated the skins and carcasses of=20 the lions, each with an estimated market value of some=20 R5000, and charged Cronje with shooting the animals=20 without a permit and illegally transporting the=20 products of the hunt to another farm.
But local conservationists and owners of the Olifants=20 Game Reserve are now up in arms as the Phalaborwa=20 Magistrate’s Court has decided to drop charges against=20 Cronje. The pastor this week arrived at the=20 conservation department offices in Phalaborwa demanding=20 that the skins be given back to him.
They have referred the matter to the provincial MEC for=20 environment and tourism, Maris-Stella Sexwale-Mabitje,=20 claiming the law states that “problem animals” may not=20 be shot without a permit and that the carcasses belong=20 to the government.
Conservation Director Rufus Maruma said the department=20 had been informed about the controversy and ordered a=20 full report. A more detailed statement would be=20 released later.
Pastor Cronje was not available for comment yesterday.=20 It is believed he has justified shooting the lions by=20 saying they had killed a calf in a cattle pen on his=20 farm. Cronje is also said to have been disgruntled=20 because conservation officials allegedly took a long=20 time to respond to his complaints about the lions.
Jack Colenso, who owns a share of the Olifants Game=20 Reserve, said Cronje was a well-known commercial hunter=20 and that his congregation’s farm was used by=20 parishioners as a game-viewing and recreational area.=20
He said the pastor also runs commercial safaris for=20 big-game hunters and was clearly interested in the=20 market value of the lions’ skins and meat. The skins=20 are worth around R5 000 each, while the meat is readily=20 sold to herbalists and sangomas for muti purposes.
“I can’t imagine why he would want to keep a few cattle=20 in a flimsy enclosure near the border between the game=20 reserve and his farm,” said Colenso.
The controversy is the latest in a series of incidents=20 involving illegal hunting activities by farmers in the=20
( SEE Great white poachers)