WINDHOEK – The Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) in collaboration with the Namibia Professional Hunting Association (NAPHA) have drafted a document that will help to contain the ever-increasing livestock and game theft across the country.
The groundbreaking document will be submitted to the police and will outline strategies to curb the ongoing game and stock-theft, which has been described by a legal expert as ‘a disease’. Willem Enslin, who has been appointed as the legal advisor of the NAU and NAPHA on strategy, drafted the document, which consists of a step-by-step manual for landowners with regard to their rights when they catch culprits in the act of stealing. The document also contains an analysis of the various laws and ordinances dealing with nature conservation, as well as the Stock Theft Act No 19 of 2004 and outlines the penalties already available under the law. According to Enslin the penalties are reasonable in most cases, but that the courts do not apply them strictly.
In the case of stock theft there is only imprisonment without the choice of a penalty. The minimum imprisonment is two years with a maximum of 30 years for a second time offender. However, the maximum penalty for stock theft is currently under review since it was declared unconstitutional in a test case in the High Court. In the case of game theft there is a choice of penalties. In the case of protected game the maximum penalty for theft is N$4 000 or imprisonment of not more than four years and for huntable game the maximum is N$2 000 or two years imprisonment, which is probably not enough to discourage game thieves. The trophy value of huntable game is in most cases much higher than the penalties.
As part of their strategy the NAU and NAPHA have decided to launch a lobby campaign with the office of the Prosecutor General for all prosecutors over the efficacy of the existing penalty structure. This includes engagement with officials of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism to increase penalties for huntable game, as well as with officials of the Ministry of Justice for the finalisation of amendments to the Stock Theft Act. This will also include raising awareness among members of the NAU and NAPHA to assist the police in the taking of declarations to ensure that they are not rejected in the courts.
Namibian farmers raised serious concerns over the alarming increase in stock theft and poaching during last year’s 67th annual congress of the NAU. It became apparent from the open discussions that farmers are unhappy with the existing legal penalty structure for theft of protected and exotic game in particular, since it is not only depriving them and the country of potential income of millions of dollars annually, but also maintain that the current fines for stealing exotic game do not reflect the true value of the game trophy hunting industry that generates in excess of N$140 million in added value annually, according to a study done some years ago.
Speaking at the annual congress of the NAU, Advocate Danie Smal of the Prosecutor-General’s Office said the current penalty system could be described as the “doctoring the symptoms, instead of addressing the illness.” According to him the penalties for elephant and rhino poaching were revised in 1986 and 1988 respectively, and now stand at N$200 000 per head of animal. He agreed that fines for some game and exotic game are not in line with what the animals are worth to farmers and the country as a whole in terms of added value, saying the time has come to address the illness.
This, he said, can only be done with the cooperation of every stakeholder in the industry. “Farmers cannot always just run to the nearest policemen for such offences or expect the PG’s Office to interfere. Some prosecutors sit with up to 20 or more cases of serious crimes like murder and rape on their desks almost every Monday. Game theft is a hideous crime, but it cannot be expected from the police of the Office of the PG to give such cases priority when faced with a bombardment of more serious crimes,” he noted. He urged all members and all farmers to get acquainted with the PG’s representatives in every town in every region and to start the process of good governance in cooperation with all role players, stressing that a total onslaught is required to deal with what he calls a ‘disease’.
By Deon Schlechter