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S. African MPs urge integrity tests to ban police from involving in rhino poaching

Xinhua, February 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

South African parliament members on Wednesday called for integrity tests and lifestyle audits for police officers so as to prevent and detect their involvement in rhino poaching.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) should conduct regular integrity test and lifestyle audits among police officers working in the Kruger National Park (KNP) and other places hit by rhino poaching to circumvent possibilities of bribery and illicit involvement of officials in the illegal act, Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police said in a statement.

The park itself has been implementing the measures among their rangers and staff members, Committee Chairperson Francois Beukman said, urging SAPS to take action.

The fight against rhino poaching often hits snags partly because certain police officers and park rangers have become accomplices.

Several KNP rangers were arrested last year in connection with poaching incidents inside the park.

The KNP, home to the country's largest rhino population, bears the brunt of rhino poaching, losing 827 rhinos to poaching in 2014.

Nationwide, a total of 1,215 rhinos were massacred last year, an average of more than three animals per day or 100 per month, the worst on record for rhino poaching.

These figures illustrate the severity of the rhino poaching crisis, with losses substantially increasing for seven consecutive years.

The number of animals killed has raised concerns that rhino population in South Africa may be in decline for the first time in nearly 100 years.

Beukman said the fight against rhino-poaching is a matter of national interests and South Africa needs all the help it can get to uproot this atrocious and illegal practice. Endi