SUSPICIOUS ALLEGED RHINO POACHING ARRESTS. THE ABUSE OF   STATE OWNED  RHINO HORN STOCKPILE. HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN KWAZULU NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA 

INTRODUCTION

The new democratic South Africa has suffered through tumultuous decades during which time many state-run institutions were compromised and have, as a result, failed to operate effectively.  

Organs of the state were "captured" by certain corrupt individuals, this alarming fact was confirmed during the public hearings of Zondo Commission of Enquiry,  which is also known as the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector. The enquiry commenced in 2018 and continued until 2022.

Corruption Watch and the Institute for Security Studies published an important Report,  one of many,  submitted to the Zondo Commission.

The contents of report revealed devastating findings about South African Police Crime Intelligence, the Directorate  for Priority Crime Investigation (the HAWKS), the National Prosecuting Authority and to a lesser degree IPID, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate.

This period of tremendous discourse might offer one explanation as to why the numerous suspicious arrests of foreign nationals and South Africans in KwaZulu Natal continued unchecked.

SOUTH AFRICAN RHINOS DID NOT REMAIN UNSCATHED DURING STATE CAPTURE 

A high-level government minister  was investigated in 2016 for his role in rhino poaching and the illegal rhino horn trade. The same minister, responsible for State Security, was mentioned and questioned during the Zondo Commission of Enquiry into State Capture in January 2021.

The content of the retrospective report titled Where Have All the Rhinos Gone? published by South African NGO, EMS Foundation, in December 2021, provides numerous examples of the questionable involvement of current and ex-members of South Africa Police Service in rhino poaching activities and the illegal trade of rhino horn. 

A second report published by the EMS Foundation in February 2024, titled South Africa's Rhino Horn Stockpiles are Intrinsic to the Illegal Trade Where Have All the Rhinos Gone? Part Two.  

The content of this Report drew attention to the fact that Dumisani Gwala, whom the media dubbed as the rhino poaching kingpin of KZN,  was found not guilty after a nine year court battle.  

The NOT GUILTY decision was made, not due to the fact that the judiciary is compromised, as a strategic targeted media campaign has suggested, but never proven in a court of law, but rather due to the astonishing fact that there was no admissible, or in fact any evidence, to suggest that he was ever involved in any wildlife crime whatsoever.

Of eye watering concern, is the fact that two of the policemen who played significant role in the entrapment and shooting of Dumisani Gwala and the entrapment three weeks later of Christopher Gumbi  were both dismissed from the South African Police Services during the time period when the lengthy  legal battle of  Dumisani Gwala was taking place.

The exact details of their dismissals remains a darkly kept secret. The lack of transparency in South African Police Services is  unfortunate in the so-called new democratic South Africa but given the current Presidential Judicial enquiry into the activities of numerous South African Police Services divisions, perhaps we should not be surprised. 

Court documents confirm that entrapment of Dumisnai Gwala involved the use of six rhino horn from state owned rhino horn stockpiles in KwaZulu Natal.  The court records reflect the question raised by the Magistrate as to why this horn has simply disappeared.

This is a  subject which is currently under scrutiny by numerous international conversation agencies and is highlighted in the EMS Foundation 2024 Report.

SUSPICIOUS ARRESTS RELATED TO ALLEGED RHINO POACHING INCIDENTS  

Besides the suspicious entrapment and arrests of Christopher Gumi, Dumisani Gwala, between 2005 - 2018 there were numerous other questionable arrests, allegedly elated to rhino poaching in Northern KwaZulu Natal.  

Official records confirm that numerous suspicious arrests were carried out, often using the 252A method of entrapment, dockets were filed at a number of rural KZN police stations, always by the same group of individuals, who included members of the South African Police services from Durban Organised Crime and members of a well-known anti-poaching unit based in Hluhluwe.

On closer inspection the details of numerous arrests appear to be overly dramatic,  and comparatively speaking many of the details are similar.  Of further concern is the fact that during some of these arrests, the alleged rhino poachers and or trespassers lost their lives.  The case involving Bheki Msweli is of particular concern. 

Whilst these particular arrests received official police CAS numbers, many of these dockets were never enrolled in a court of law.  This was not because the judiciary was corrupt but rather because the evidence to support the arrests was insufficient, according to the National Prosecuting Authority.  For instance often there was no DNA linking the alleged poachers to the rhino horn or the weapons that they were supposedly carrying.

WHAT WAS THE MOTIVE FOR THE SUSPICIOUS ARRESTS?

It has been suggested that the motivation for these false arrests was two-fold:

(a) The rhino horn was misappropriated from the State owned rhino horn stockpile for use in the entrapments simply disappeared after the arrests.  

(b) According to the high-level HAWKS investigation into these suspicious arrests carried out between 2015-2016,  a private conservation fund was manipulated.  This fund had been set up,  designed to attempt to halt the rhino poaching crisis in KwaZulu Natal.  

Payments were meant to have been made from this fund for information which would lead to the successful arrest and prosecution of rhino poachers.  The fund was generously supported locally and internationally by unsuspecting donors.  

Instead of paying a monetary reward for the successful prosecution of rhino poachers, a monetary reward was paid upon the presentation of a South African Police CAS number.

The amount of money paid out was dependent on the difficulty of the so called investigation and the importance of the arrest.  In other words the arrest of a rhino poaching kingpin would translate into a higher reward payment from the fund. 

A HIGH LEVEL INVESTIGATION BY THE DIRECTORATE FOR PRIORITY CRIME 

The  vast number of rhino poaching arrests, the numerous fatalities and the frequent use of the 252A entrapment method in northern KwaZulu Natal, compared to the low number of successful prosecutions alerted the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (HAWKS) in Pretoria.

A high level official investigation into these suspicious arrests was undertaken in 2015 and 2016 in KwaZulu Natal.  

Researchers have met with the most senior members of this team in 2018 who confirmed the investigation and provided further valuable insight such as the fact that no autopsies were ever carried out on any of the alleged poachers that were killed.

Whistle-blowers from within the anti-poaching unit that were on the scene at the questionable entrapments and arrests, donors to the aforementioned fund and other eye witnesses to some of these questionable entrapments and irregular arrests have given written statements and affidavits which were presented to the original official high level HAWKS investigation team, the content of these statements has been confirmed by researchers.

In 2016,  an independent international forensic investigator was requested by a specialised unit of South African Police, involved in this high-level investigation, to examine the weapons found at these suspicious rhino poaching entrapment "crime scenes". 

The weapons “found”  during these questionable arrests forensically matched the weapons used and found in the Kruger National Park in rhino poaching incidents and these were traced to Mozambique.

While some people have tried to dismiss these suspicious arrests as conspiracy theories, there is simply too much reliable evidence and far too many independent witness statements to simply ignore the commonalities presented. 

The forensic evidence was published in an international report in 2019.  The forensic investigators confirmed in the published report that an anti-poaching unit was carrying out extra-judicial killings pretending that the targets were rhino poachers in order to receive bonus payments. 

Despite the questionable human rights abuses, according to written responses received from the South African Police Services, the high level investigation in KwaZulu Natal was never concluded, because in their own words: “State Capture Investigations have taken  precedence."  

THE DUMISANI GWALA MATTER 

The arrest of  Dumisani Gwala in December 2014 is one example of these suspicious entrapments and arrests that were carried out in KwaZulu Natal. 

Despite, supposedly being an important rhino poaching kingpin, details of the eight-month official surveillance investigation were never made available during the trial of Dumisani Gwala nor were they ever released by the media during the nine year targeted media campaign.  This is quite simply because there was never an eight month investigation. 

Three days after the entrapment and and shooting of Dumisani Gwala, on the 21st December 2014, the details of the dramatic entrapment were supplied, by their own admission, to the media by the founder of Nyathi Anti-Poaching Unit and by the head of conservation at Phinda Private Game Reserve and one of the directors of the Munyawana Conservation Fund, both of whom were present, and photographed at the entrapment and shooting of Dumisani Gwala. 

In intricate dramatic detail they described the entrapment of Dumisani Gwala. Whom they concluded, was apparently responsible for 80% of the rhino poaching that took place in KwaZulu Natal. 

It does not take a genius to conclude that if there was any evidence available from the eight month investigation his bail would obviously not have been R10 000.00. Similarly, if Dumisani Gwala was a previously convicted criminal, as has been suggested, his bail would not have been R10 000.00.  

The Magistrate and Prosecutor, presiding at his bail hearing were both senior, well respected senior members of the judiciary.

These are obvious facts that no-one seemed to question. 

THE #ConvictGwalaRhinoKingpin MEDIA CAMPAIGN

In January 2016, the entrapment and arrest of Dumisani Gwala was  re-published on social media by a social media influencer, after she had spent time at Phinda Private Game Reserve.  She was given a photograph of a nearly naked Dumisani Gwala lying critically wounded at the scene of his entrapment and shooting,  in the sand and the contents of the corresponding official Police docket. 

The founder of Saving the Wild,  a registered charity in New Zealand, was commissioned, according to sources, by the Nyathi Anti-Poaching Unit and Directors of the Munyawana Conservation Fund to initiate this media campaign.

It has been suggested that the motivation for the initiation of this campaign were two-fold:

(a) The Dumisani Gwala trial was about to commence at Mtubatuba Magistrates Court. Magistrate Ngcobo, the presiding officer at the court, was all too familiar with the other suspicious rhino arrests carried out by the same group of people from Durban Organised Crime and the Anti-Poaching Unit based in Hluhluwe.  

(b) The officer from Durban Organised Crime responsible for the investigation and arrest of Dumisani Gwala had been suspended during the high-level HAWKS investigation.   

This officer from Durban Organised Crime and the founder/owner of the Anti-Poaching Unit were being investigated by the high-level HAWKS.  Their own locally engaged lawyer from Richards Bay confirmed this in a series of social media posts.  

The absolute worst thing for both of these individuals, whilst they were being investigated, were for the true details of  the entrapment and shooting of Dumisani Gwala to be made public in a court of law.

THE BLOOD RHINO BLACKLIST MEDIA CAMPAIGN

The social media influencer informed her followers on Facebook that the Magistrate Ngcobo at Mtubatuba Magistrate’s Court was corrupt.  

He had, according to her social media content, found a person named as Christopher Gumbi an alleged rhino poacher, not guilty January 2016. 

Her disinformation campaign was successful, the ruckus in the media provided reason for the Dumisani Gwala matter to be delayed and moved to Ngwelezane Magistrates Court in Empangeni.

 

A DEPARTURE FROM THE TRUTH 

The police were required by law, in terms of a 252A entrapment and the National Prosecuting Authority to film the entrapment of Dumisani Gwala using body mounted cameras.   

The five year struggle by the Defence attorneys acting for Dumisani Gwala to obtain the official copies of the SAPS video recordings of the entrapment, kidnapping and shooting is well documented in the court records.  

The official Police video of the entrapment and shooting was finally obtained by the Defence in early 2019.  These videos were subsequently viewed with independent witnesses, with the accused and with officers from a specialised unit of South African Police Crime Intelligence in March 2019 in Richards Bay in KwaZulu Natal.

What is clearly evident from the official SAPS video footage is that the evidence contained in the official South African Police dockets supplied by the officer from Durban Organised Crime and the officers from Crime Intelligence in Pretoria who were all present at the entrapments, does not match up to what was recorded on video. 

The content of the videos proves that the information provided to the media following the entrapment and shooting and arrest of Dumisani Gwala is factually and blatantly incorrect.

The harrowing undeniable details of the entrapment, including who was present at the entrapment is all captured on the official video.

The shooting of Dumisani Gwala is no less harrowing and is reminiscent of the video of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a police officer in 2020. 

Of concern is the fact that the National Prosecution Authority would have had plenty of opportunity to view the video evidence and compare the video evidence to the Affidavits from the South African Policemen who carried out the entrapment and arrest.

In addition the NPA has been repeatedly advised that the official evidence recorded on Police body cameras contradicted the affidavits and information contained in the Police dockets, yet they chose to persist with the criminal trial.  They chose not to act. 

ANOTHER SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE OFFICER ARRESTED AND THEN RESIGNED OR WAS DISMISSED

In 2015, the officer from Durban Organised Crime was suspended from duty. The HAWKS investigation was completed in 2016, and co-incidentally he was dismissed in 2017.  He has vehemently denied that his dismissal has anything to do with the official HAWKS investigation in 2015 and 2016.

According to the official court records, and testimony presented in court on the 20th and 21st June 2019, he stated and named two undercover agents from Police Crime Intelligence who were based in Pretoria, were involved  in the entrapment Dumisani Gwala. 

According to numerous media reports, in April 2021, one of these SAPS agents, a former Commander of a Kidnapping Unit in Crime Intelligence in Pretoria, was arrested by the HAWKS for extortion after an internal investigation was initiated in 2019. 

Following these dismissals, there should have been serious concern on the part of the National Prosecuting Authority  about the questionable reliability of two of the leading witnesses for the State in the Dumisani Gwala matter.

NO RHINO HORN WAS EXCHANGED IN THE OFFICIAL ENTRAPMENTS

The official charges on the original charge sheet in the Dumisani Gwala matter clearly state that it was his intention to deal in rhino horn, these charges are clearly recorded and signed by SAPS  yet the content of videos provide no such evidence. No rhino horn or money is exchanged in the video. 

The content of the official Police videos clearly demonstrates there was no attempt by Dumisani Gwala to murder a policemen, what the video does clearly show is that Dumisani Gwala was shot numerous times whilst he was unarmed.

ALLEGATIONS OF A CORRUPT JUSTICE SYSTEM  

 There have been damaging allegations made against the South African judicial system initiated and published by the social media influencer from 2016 to date.

These allegations state that bribes have been paid to named, justice officials in order to keep Christopher Gumbi and Dumisani Gwala out of the courtroom and out of jail.

In January 2017, according to the social media influencer she was able to provide the necessary proof of the allegations that she made in 2016 about corrupt magistrates.  

Underscoring this narrative, she said that two witnesses contacted her via email on her website and in order to protect their identities she named them Fresh and Tortoise.

She described her relationship with them in detail in a radio interview broadcast in New Zealand in October of 2017.  

The “evidence” provided in the form of affidavits by people she named Fresh and Tortoise was then apparently fact checked by the South African Police Services.

The Prosecutor attempted to ask for the recusal of Magistrate Shandu during the Dumisani Gwala matter on the 9th October 2017 based upon the content of the Fresh Affidavit obtained by the social media influencer. 

The same Prosecutor had also, according to a written statement to Carte Blanche, provided permission for the 252A entrapment of Christopher Gumbi and Dumisani Gwala.  

Advocate Noko, head of the NPA in KZN stated in a media release two months later, that the evidence in Fresh’s affidavit was not conclusive. Fresh’s affidavit and the supporting affidavits by SAPS were also not admitted into evidence.

This Prosecutor was removed as the prosecutor on the Dumisani Gwala matter.  

The allegations in Fresh’s affidavit are serious and as a result, the Gwala matter was transferred from Ngwelezane Court to back to the Mtubatuba Court.

This transfer caused yet further unnecessary delays in the trial which has been very costly for the State and for the defendants. 

The Fresh allegations have, according to media publications, also suggested that there may be a link between Magistrate Ngcobo and Magistrate Shandu and Regional Court President Eric Nzimande.

However, the secretary for the Magistrates Commission stated, in writing in 2018, that there is no evidence linking any rhino related matters to  Regional Court President Eric Nzimande.

The allegations supposedly made by Fresh and Tortoise, and checked by the South African Police service, are serious and damaging to the reputation of the South African judiciary.

Subsequent research has revealed the true identity of Fresh and Tortoise as well as their alias's.

The content of Fresh (and Tortoise) Affidavits was intended to be admitted into evidence to be used against Magistrate Ngcobo,  Magistrate Shandu, lawyers Mr Ngwenya and Ms Linda supported by confirmatory affidavits from the social media influencer, and SAPS on the 9th October 2017 during the trial of Dumisani Gwala at Ngwelezane Magistrate's Court.

FRESH AND TORTOISE RETRACT THEIR AFFIDAVITS 

The content of new Affidavits provided in September 2021 by the people known as Fresh and Tortoise, with their true identities supported by their South African identification numbers suggest that they might have been coerced into providing the contents of the original Affidavits against the judiciary.  They did not contact the social media influencer by email they provide, instead, exact details of how they were approached. 

They have signed Affidavits retracting all the information previously given to Jamie Joseph, SAPS, and the Magistrates Commission.

Furthermore, Fresh and Tortoise have stated in Affidavits in 2021, that the information contained in affidavits and interviews conducted with Alastair Leithead from the BBC and content used for the article published by  Sam Sole from amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism was false.  

They have provided receipts of payments made to them for the affidavits they provided to the social media influencer.

Allegedly the affidavits was provided to the Magistrate's Commission by the social media influencer as evidence to be used against Regional Court President Eric Nzimande.

THE WHEEL OF JUSTICE TURNS SLOWLY

MINISTER OF POLICE SUED 

Christopher Gumbi was trapped and arrested three weeks after Dumisani Gwala was trapped, shot and arrested by the same people from Durban Organised Crime, Crime Intelligence and the APU based in Hluhluwe. 

Christopher Gumi was a police officer who was investigating the suspicious arrests and deaths of alleged rhino poachers in KwaZulu Natal when he was trapped and arrested by the people he was investigating. 

The wheel of justice is, however turning slowly, the 2015 suspicious entrapment and arrest of Christopher Gumbi was highlighted in 2022 in the media.

It was highlighted because after the Magistrate found him not guilty of any crimes related to rhino poaching in 2016, he instituted a claim of wrongful arrest and wrongful incarceration against the South African Minister of Police. 

Christopher Bhekani Gumbi and the Minister of Police CASE NUMBER: D7156/2016, the article is titled Gumbi Fell Prey to Dishonest Cops.

The high court judgement confirms that "Warrant Officer Christopher Gumbi, who was at the time investigating an illegal operation in Jozini involving the rendition of foreign national persons from Mozambique then luring and placing them in certain game parks in KwaZulu Natal and then killing them under the guise of being rhino poachers, was himself trapped and then arrested."

His arrest was obviously an attempt to prevent him from continuing any further investigation into the suspicious arrests of alleged rhino poachers.  

His arrest ruined his credibility as a police officer. 

The Judge in the High Court in Durban also stated  that "Christopher Gumbi was also the subject of the malicious content of newspaper articles clearly instigated by the same individuals who arrested him. The media campaign  clearly targeted him." 

DUMISANI GWALA ARE FOUND “NOT GUILTY”

After nine years on the 28th July 2023, a new Magistrate presiding at the Mtubatuba found that the evidence from the State was inadmissible.

All charges were dropped against Dumisani Gwala except for one - resisting arrest.  

CLASS ACTION LITIGATION

Following the successful High Court matter involving Christopher Gumbi, other victims, who have been falsely arrested as rhino poachers and the family members of the deceased victims killed as alleged rhino poachers will satisfy the court that there is a case that is legally tenable, and that a prima facie case exists on the evidence they can provide. 

A civil matter against the Minister of Police, the Minister of Justice and the head of the National Prosecuting Authority has been launched in the High Court and is currently ongoing. 

THE MEDIA 

On the 30th May 2024 Carte Blanche, a South African investigative television programme,  aired the results of their investigation titled Rhino Poaching: An Organised Cabal?  

All attempts to have the programme removed by the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa were unsuccessful.

 

DUMISANI GWALA ASSASSINATED

Dumisani Gwala was assassinated in his home on the 3rd December 2025.

The motive for his killing is blatantly obvious.  He had laid charges of intimidation and named the people that would kill him in November 2023. 

His killers do not want the truth about his entrapment and shooting to be made public in the High Court. 

 

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