Carte Blanche Defends Expose: Disrupting Supply of Guns for Rhino Poaching is Vital
Carte Blanche has defended its expose on Sunday night of the international gun trade which fuels the slaughter of South African rhino at an alarming rate of one every eight hours. In a statement on their site, together with international trafficking investigator Kathi Lynn Austin, Carte Blanche says “disrupting the supply of weapons used in wildlife […]
Carte Blanche has defended its expose on Sunday night of the international gun trade which fuels the slaughter of South African rhino at an alarming rate of one every eight hours.
In a statement on their site, together with international trafficking investigator Kathi Lynn Austin, Carte Blanche says “disrupting the supply of weapons used in wildlife crime worldwide is a much-needed – and often overlooked – conservation tool”.
The show says that by releasing highlights from its three-year, six country investigation findings, the Conflict Awareness Project (CAP) believes it has fulfilled an important tenet of its mandate: “to foster public awareness and prompt initiatives against the further spread and use of rifles.”
CAP says it believes that it is time for South Africans to have a real conversation about how public and international donor funds are spent to combat rhino poaching.
Following a response from South African National Parks (SANParks) claiming “inaccuracies”, Carte Blanche insists it approached all relevant authorities for interviews to be broadcast on the programme, and says: “We question their choice not to be interviewed on camera or to respond to specific questions.”
According to CAP, it presented all its findings – detailing crimes committed by key individuals and companies in the supply of guns to the rhino poaching syndicates – to the law enforcement in five affected countries: the Czech Republic, the United States, Portugal, Mozambique, and South Africa.
Carte Blanche says: “Despite some South African authorities receiving Austin’s evidence, including SANParks and others, it appears there has been little attempt to dismantle the gunrunning networks and bring charges against the traffickers operating on South African soil.
“Nonetheless neither SANParks nor the Hawks have refuted the facts of the broadcast.”
The lack of accountability is what frustrated CAP and spurred Austin to go public.
Carte Blanche claims it did not implicate SANParks in the ‘gun trade’, but “paid tribute to the rangers who put their lives on the line. We maintain concern for those who signed up for conservation, only to find themselves on the front line of an arms race between opposing sides.”
In a statement on Tuesday, SANParks alleged that Carte Blanche did not contextualize the interview with Major General (Ret) Johan Jooste of SANParks as having taken place in 2015″, but as pointed out by SAPeople yesterday, Carte Blanche says “on the contrary, the date of his interview in 2015 is clearly labeled on screen,” says Carte Blanche.
The CB statement also points out other inaccuracies in SANParks’ response, including:
- At no point did Austin seek financial resources from SANParks
- CAP never asked SANParks to conduct operations in pursuit of gun smugglers. CAP consistently asked SANParks to communicate directly with the CZUB arms manufacturer and Czech government about the problem of illegal CZUB guns used in Kruger rhino poaching.
- All parties did know about the CZ weapons consignment from Portugal to Mozambique.
Carte Blanche says: “The Portuguese authorities only needed confirmation from South Africa that CZ high-caliber hunting rifles had previously been used in wildlife crime in South Africa. This would have allowed for a proper investigation to be completed.
“The consignment appeared to be illegal in that it was part of a broader conspiracy to commit downstream wildlife crime, a fact verified once the rifles appeared on South Africa’s rhino killing fields, recovered from rhino poaching crime scenes within a matter of months.”
The hard-hitting full documentary can be watched here – SANParks’ response can be read here, and Carte Blanche’s full statement can be read here.
CAP will be releasing all of its findings in a forthcoming report.
Concluding this 3-year investigation, with all role players fully informed of the investigation and findings, the question remains – who has the political or moral will to act on the information? #FollowtheGuns @Kathilynnaustin #CarteBlanche pic.twitter.com/Itvd6FROYQ
— Carte Blanche (@carteblanchetv) June 24, 2018