By: Hertha Ekandjo
An official with the Prosecutor General’s Office advocate Jatiel Mudamburi said the absence of courts dedicated to dealing with wildlife crimes led to some judges and magistrates taking such crimes lightly.
Mudamburi, from the environmental crime unit (ECU), said this on Wednesday when the environment ministry held a stakeholders’ meeting in Windhoek following the discovery of 11 black rhino carcasses in Etosha National Park.
The environment ministry announced Tuesday that the carcasses could be two weeks old.
Mudamburi said that some judges and magistrates still take wildlife crime cases lightly.
“This is because there is no specific court for these types of offences, the same court that deals with everything is also the same court that is left to deal with wildlife cases,” said Mudamburi.
He added that the sentencing of poachers also sends a wrong message to those convicted because these cases aren’t taken seriously.
He said that criminal charges are meaningless if they do not result in a conviction and a proper sentence.
“Successful prosecution is possible if cases are properly and adequately investigated,” he explained. “It is worth mentioning that civil and criminal forfeitures of proceedings and instrumentalities of crime are significant victories in the fight against wildlife crime.”
He added that they ensure that criminals do not benefit from the proceeds of their crime and retain instruments of crime.
According to him, ECU is mandated to provide analytical and investigative support to other law enforcement agencies and ensure that parallel financial investigations are conducted together with further investigations.
The other problem was the difficulty for courts to deal with wild crimes timeously because of the heavy load of crime-related cases.
“However, the challenge we have at present is that prosecutors are not only concentrated on wild crime, but they are also working on other cases as well. In some way, there is dividend attention,” said Mudamburi.
He also said this is why wildlife crime cases do not move as quickly as they want, as the same prosecutors handle every other crime-related case.
The advocate further said the increase of cases over the past five years created a massive challenge as finalisations could not keep up with case registrations.
At the same event, the environment minister, Pohamba Shifeta, said that the ministry had revised legislation to strengthen wildlife protection and increased maximum penalties for wildlife crimes to ensure that perpetrators are convicted and appropriately punished, deterring further crime.
“We have also created government departments tasked with protecting our wildlife and environment, such as the Wildlife Protection Services Division in the ministry’s crime unit of the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Shifeta said interagency cooperation between conservation, law enforcement and prosecution has also been prioritised.
He added that the Blue Rhino Task Team creates the focal point for these partnerships (BRTT), formal cooperation between the Protected Resources Division of the police within the home affairs, immigration, safety and security ministry and the Intelligence and Investigation Unit within his ministry.
“The BRTT works closely with regional police, MEFT and Namibian Defence Force units (NDF), which create the foundation for investigating transgressions and arresting perpetrators,” said Shifeta.
According to the minister, the Task Team has co-opted members from other government agencies, including the NDF, Financial Intelligence Centre, Namibian Revenue Agency (NAMRA) and Office of the Prosecutor General, to assist as needed in bringing criminals to justice.
For the protection of the wildlife, he said that dog units specialised in wildlife products, weapons and ammunition were trained and deployed into the parks and other priority areas.
“Magistrates and prosecutors have been trained and educated on the severity of wildlife crime. We have raised the awareness of communities and trained community rhino rangers to support the government in protecting our rhinos,” narrated Shifeta.
According to the minister, Namibia recognised the need to act and has not been idle.
“Thanks to a concerted effort of government, Namibia’s conservation entities, law enforcement agencies and the judiciary, we have made significant strides to prevent, investigate, and prosecute wildlife crimes,” he said.
