The great white poachers of the Limpopo Valley have=20 been taken on by a lone ranger, reports Fiona Macleod
Sergeant Barnard — the new commander at the Pont Drift=20 station near Alldays — has declared war against the=20 white farmers, police and conservation authorities in=20 the area who have for years been involved in poaching=20 game from across the border. Barnard has even arrested=20 his predecessor.
For generations, the white farmers on the South African=20 side of the Limpopo River border have had virtual carte=20 blanche to raid the game stocks of their Botswana and=20 Zimbabwean neighbours. Complaints have generally fallen=20 on deaf ears and, in many instances, the raids have=20 been carried out with the collaboration of police and=20 conservation authorities.
A report compiled for the Northern Tuli Game Reserve in=20 Botswana notes that, in the late 1960s, “a major=20 problem was poaching by white men from across the=20 Limpopo River … The white poachers, who came across=20 the river at night to fill their bakkies with kudu and=20 impala, would blaze away at everything that moved,=20 including game wardens.”
In the 1970s, the South African Defence Force erected a=20 security fence along the border, with the intention of=20 keeping out insurgents. But this fence appears to have=20 done little to deter the trigger-happy white poachers;=20 besides, there is a 37km gap in it near Pont Drift.
The long list of complaints that has emanated from the=20 Botswana side over the years includes reccurrent=20 reports of:
* South Africans using helicopters to chase herds of=20 game across the Limpopo riverbed, which is dry most of=20 the year, for wealthy hunting clients to shoot.
* Farmers using dead donkeys to lure predators across=20 the river and then killing them. Loud tape recordings=20 of predator feeding sounds are often played near this=20
* Hostility from the farmers whenever they have been=20 confronted with evidence of poaching.
* Irregularities in the granting of permits, both for=20 hunting and transporting animals, by conservation=20
* Lack of response by police officials. In July 1990,=20 for instance, a Botswana landowner who caught a farmer=20 dragging a dead kudu through the riverbed, called the=20 South African Police. He was told by the police that=20 they could not charge the man for poaching and that it=20 was not an offence to shoot across the border.
Though most of the South African farmers depend on game=20 farming and hunting to supplement their income from=20 agriculture, they have shown little concern for the=20 dwindling wildlife resources in the area.
During the drought of the early 1980s, farmers dug a=20 waterhole in the riverbed, fenced it and proceeded to=20 shoot out the last buffalo in the area; in November=20 1990, a visiting Johannesburg taxidermist shot a huge=20 crocodile — a locally endangered species — and=20 dragged it across to South Africa; the total number of=20 lions left in the Tuli Bushlands across the border is=20 estimated to be fewer than 10 — in the early 1980s,=20 there were about 60 lions in the area.
From=20time to time, the Botswana authorities have=20 threatened drastic action. In 1990, for instance, a=20 special anti-poaching unit was set up by the Botswana=20 Defence Force, with orders to “shoot to kill” any=20 poacher crossing the riverbed. But the Batswana have=20 been exasperated by the lack of co-operation from their=20 South African counterparts.
Not long after he took charge at the Pont Drift police=20 station in December last year, Barnard discovered a=20 reason for this: his predecessor, Ockert Augustine, was=20 allegedly shooting game in the riverbed and selling the=20 meat for a profit.
Barnard received reports that, for at least two years,=20 Augustine had been shooting game on an average of =20 three times a week. He was also told that the policeman=20 had been involved in shooting 23 hyena in the riverbed=20 with a 9mm pistol and, when he checked out the site, he=20 found a pile of hyena carcasses.
So Barnard set up a trap and, on December 7 1994,=20 caught Augustine in the process of shooting four=20 impala. Augustine has since been transferred to Louis=20 Trichardt and he has not been asked to plead to charges=20 of game theft.
One of Barnard’s priorities is to tackle the prevailing=20 hunting mindset in the community, which has little=20 respect for international boundaries and which has been=20 the source of untold cross-border tension over the=20
Barnard has since become involved in two investigations=20 that epitomise the situation in the Limpopo Valley:
* The first brings to the fore complaints about=20 irregularities in the issuing of permits by=20 conservation officials. It is a case in which Rudolf=20 Erasmus, the officer in charge of the new Vhembe Nature=20 Reserve in the area, has been charged with being an=20 accessory to the theft of game and obstructing the=20 administration of justice.
Louis Stsckl, owner of two farms on the South African=20 side of the border, laid a complaint after his=20 neighbour, Piet Grobler, allegedly hired a helicopter=20 on April 26 to chase game off Stsckl’s farms on to his=20 own, where it was captured and loaded up for=20
The charges that have been laid against Grobler include=20 theft, trespassing, catching game with an aircraft=20 without a legal permit, removal of game and selling it=20 without a permit, and falsely professing that he sold=20 game lawfully.
It is alleged that, despite the fact that Grobler had=20 twice before been denied permits to capture game,=20 Erasmus failed to ensure that all the conditions had=20 been met for the granting of a permit on April 26. The=20 capture started without a permit and when the permit=20 did finally arrive, it did not specify the species and=20 numbers of animals to be caught — these details were=20 simply filled in by Erasmus after the capture. The=20 required veterinary certificate for transporting the=20 animals had also not been obtained.
Stsckl, who claims he lost at least R250 000 worth of=20 game in the incident, says he has had little respect=20 for the conservation authorities since he discovered,=20 in the 1980s, that they were involved in shooting=20 elephants on the border, “just for the fun of it …=20 This is senseless killing, and it’s damaging South=20 Africa’s image overseas.”
Thirty-four percent of one of Stsckl’s farms is owned=20 by two Austrian shareholders — one a bank director,=20 the other an industrialist — and they have written a=20 formal letter of complaint to Minister of Environment=20 Affairs Dawie de Villiers.
* Barnard is also considering reopening the=20 investigation into the shooting of the lion Batian, one=20 of the last three of George Adamson’s cubs, which were=20 brought to the Tuli Bushlands by Gareth Patterson after=20 Adamson’s murder in 1989, and successfully=20 rehabilitated back into the wild.
On July 29 1991, when Batian was three years old, South=20 African farmers hung a donkey carcass on a tree, played=20 feeding sounds through loudspeakers and, when Batian=20 was attracted to the bait, shot him and proceeded to=20 skin him.
Two farmers — Alan Fourie and Koos le Roux –=20 subsequently stood trial for hunting a lion without a=20 permit and failing to report the incident, for which=20 they were each fined R360 and given suspended sentences=20 of three months. But Barnard believes there was a=20 cover-up and that the original investigation was=20
“The Nature Conservation Department conducted the=20 investigation into the shooting … I saw the case=20 docket and this was the poorest investigation I have=20 ever seen,” Barnard says. “It seems that no serious=20 effort was made to investigate the matter properly. I=20 can just say that this won’t ever happen again.”
In the course of these inquiries, Barnard has also=20 found evidence that seven other lions have since been=20 killed on the same farm where Batian was shot. He is=20 determined to bring these killings to light.