Mpumalanga chief Clyde Mnisi, who was gunned down last week, was allegedly the middleman in a rhino poaching syndicate involving cops and a kingpin at the Kruger National Park.
This is the case prosecutors were to take to the high court in Mpumalanga, where Mnisi and his co-accused were scheduled to appear this month.
Mnisi was killed in a suspected hit along Airport Road near White River next to Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport on March 26.
In the early hours of Tuesday, two days after Mnisi’s burial, his wife Charlene Felicity Mathews was killed in what her family said was an execution-style murder that has left them reeling in fear. There is no indication that Mathews was directly involved in the case.
But their murders follow that of Petrus Mabuza in 2021, who according to the state indictment seen by Sowetan, was allegedly the kingpin of the operation.
The NPA indictment details how the syndicate operated in 2017, with the accused alleged to have stolen white rhino horns valued at between R300,000 and R1m per set or two.
The state alleges that accused no 2 (Claude Lubisi), accused no 5 (Aretha Mhlanga) and accused no 6 (Rachel Qwebana), who were police officers, used to smuggle poachers in and out of the Kruger National Park using police vehicles. The rhino horns would then be brought to them and they would buy them.
“The primary purpose of the enterprise was to smuggle rhino poachers into the Kruger National Park using SAPS state vehicles for the poachers to illegally hunt and kill rhinoceros using high-calibre hunting rifles, poach the rhinoceros horns and be smuggled out by the police officials being accused no 2, 5 and 6,” the indictment read in part.
“Thereafter accused no 3 [Mnisi] would link them up with either accused 1 [Mabuza] or 4 [Nyalunga] for selling of the rhinoceros’ horns. Accused no 1 and 4 would then buy the rhinoceros horns and pay the price agreed upon.
"The money would then be shared between the hunters, accused 2 [Lubisi], 4 [Mnisi], 5 [Mhlanga] and 6 [Qwebana], depending on who was involved in the operation.
The indictment states that it was clear from the evidence that Mabuza and Nyalunga were the ones purchasing the rhino horns and paying the money for the purchase.
It further indicates that Lubisi, Mhlanga and Qwebana abused their authority by misusing state resources to smuggle the poachers into the Kruger National Park for a share of the money after the sale of the horns.
The state alleges that Mnisi was the middleman who facilitated the transactions and was paid from the proceeds of the sales. It argues that the accused were involved in rhino hunting and poaching. In this case, they were involved in at least four illegal transactions from February 17 2017 to May 19 2017 where an undercover operation uncovered the commission of the crimes, the indictment stated. It further shows that there was another transaction on January 13 2017, which was disclosed by an informer.
The state alleges that participants of this enterprise committed such 40 offences.
sifilel@sowetan.co.za
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