Simply put, the unnatural practice of butchering and trading exotic animals such as bats, snakes, pangolins etc. in the wet markets of Wuhan and other parts of China, for the purpose of human consumption, is widely believed to have lead to the outbreak of, among others, the COVID-19 virus.

China has issued a temporary ban on wildlife markets where animals such as civets and even live wolf pups as well as dogs and cats are kept in small cages while on sale, often in filthy conditions where they incubate diseases that can then spill into human populations.

The United Nations’ biodiversity chief in addition to the Humane Society International, many governments and leading scientists across the globe have urged Beijing to make the ban permanent.

In recent developments, it has been reported that traders of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are now selling "Angong Niuhuang Wan" as a cure for COVID-19. This TCM contains rhino horn. The demand for rhino horn in TCM has lead to South Africa's rhino population being driven to the brink of extinction by poaching syndicates.

It is clear that these unnatural practices in China are posing a real and imminent danger to the people and wildlife of South Africa.

We therefore call on the President and Minister of Home Affairs to bring into effect a temporary ban on travel from China to South Africa until the Chinese government has:

1) Permanently banned the sale and use of exotic animals, as defined by the Humane Society International, for purposes of human consumption;

2) Permanently banned the use of rhino horn in Traditional Chinese Medicine.