Our Burning Planet

Polluters and poachers feel the sting of environmental guardians the Green Scorpions

Bags of confiscated abalone in the Western Cape. (Photo: DFFE)

29 Dec 2024

According to the latest National Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Report, published on 18 November 2024, the Green Scorpions arrested more than 500 suspects over the past financial year. They registered 634 criminal dockets and issued more than 1,000 admission of guilt notices for less serious environmental offences (with just over half of these fines paid).

Postal workers pricked up their ears after hearing some very odd scratching noises in a bunch of parcels dropped off at a Pretoria PostNet branch on the afternoon of 8 February 2023.

Intrigued, they took a peek, and were more than a little surprised to discover that the packages were crawling with strange creatures — including a cobra, sungazer lizards and skinks destined for delivery to an address in KwaZulu-Natal.

A subsequent search at the homes of Johan Coetzee (28) and Xander Aylward (19) led to the confiscation of several other reptiles or amphibians, including protected species such as bull frogs and an African rock python.

Two months later, in the Scottburgh Magistrate’s Court, a senior representative of the giant Sappi pulp and paper group was ordered to cough up R8-million after pleading guilty to 38 air pollution offences that had been committed more than a decade earlier.

Three months later, this time in the Western Cape Division of the High Court, several crooked government officials were sentenced to lengthy jail terms after being nabbed in an undercover operation that began almost five years earlier.

This operation exposed a network of corrupt fisheries inspectors who received bribes for colluding with abalone poachers in the Gansbaai area.

Though these events are not linked directly to each other, the common denominator in all three cases was the involvement of the Green Scorpions — a group of Environmental Management Inspectors charged with policing and investigating an increasingly broad range of environmental crimes across South Africa.

Established 18 years ago, the initial staff complement of around 870 inspectors in 2006 has expanded to just over 3,400 people.

Rangers and officers from the Table Mountain National Park during a Green Scorpions advanced training session. (Photo: Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment)

The majority are rangers employed by SA National Parks (about 1,100), Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (680) and other provincial nature conservation agencies. The remainder are attached to nine provincial conservation departments, with a smaller complement based in the national departments of environment, water and sanitation.

Inspectors have powers to arrest suspects, question witnesses, and collect evidence samples. They can also search premises, ships, vehicles and aircraft; or set up roadblocks and issue compliance notices and directives to major industries and government bodies.

Environmental Management Inspectors are not empowered to prosecute cases in court, but often work closely with the National Prosecuting Authority to bring culprits to book.

According to the latest National Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Report published on November 18, the Green Scorpions arrested more than 500 suspects over the past financial year. They registered 634 criminal dockets and issued more than 1 000 admission of guilt notices for less serious environmental offences (with just over half of these fines paid).

Green Scorpions chief director Frances Craigie. (Photo: Tony Carnie)

Summarising the lengthy report, Green Scorpions chief director Frances Craigie said the most prevalent crimes involved the illegal possession or hunting of protected animals and plants, or illegal entry into protected parks and reserves.

There had also been a significant increase in companies developing projects unlawfully, without conducting mandatory Environmental Impact Assessments. Over the past financial year there were at least 807 such cases.

The number of rhinos killed in 2023 decreased to just under 500, compared with the bleakest poaching period between 2013 and 2017 (when more than 1,000 rhinos were poached annually for five consecutive years).

Along the Eastern and Western Cape coastline, abalone poaching remains rife, with more than R71-million worth of these molluscs confiscated.

There was also quite a lot of painstaking grunt work involved in inspecting more than 5,600 factories, buildings and other facilities across the country to monitor compliance with environmental laws.

But behind these dry statistics, the enforcement report also shines a spotlight on some of the more notable success stories (and less successful actions) of the inspectorate.

This included some much stiffer sentences being imposed in the courts.

For example, cycad poachers Thabani Sibanda, Shadrack Matambo and Leonard Khumalo are now behind bars for 12, 10 and eight years respectively after being caught with more than R2-million worth of these protected plants near Kroonstad in September 2022.

The Lekwa Local Municipality was also fined R70-million and put on strict terms to plug the torrent of human sewage and factory muck that has been pouring into the Vaal River near Standerton for more than five years.

This fine, imposed by the Standerton Regional Court in June 2023, was among the highest on record in South Africa for an environmental crime (until an even stiffer R120-million fine was imposed on the Dipaleseng Local Municipality on 15 November 2024 for similar sewage pollution offences).

Notably, both these cases were investigated by one of the smallest Green Scorpion branches, housed in the Mpumalanga provincial environment department.

Speaking at the Green Scorpions’ recent biennial conference, Craigie drew special attention to the pervasive level of sewage pollution crimes by municipalities across the country.

The Sappi Saiccor pulp mill at Umkomaas, south of Durban, was fined R8-million in 2023 after pleading guilty to 38 air pollution offences that had been committed more than a decade earlier. (Photo: Tony Carnie)

Green Scorpions logo. (Image: Supplied)

Illegal sand mining operations, especially along the Eastern Cape Wild Coast, are also on the increase — compelling the national Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment to place several concrete bollards or big rocks next to beaches around Coffee Bay, Lubanzi and Kob Inn to prevent truck access to the beach without a permit.

Back in the courts, in November 2023, the Green Scorpions finally managed to nip Free State businessman Gavin Brasher and six other men who had been arrested 15 years earlier for a medical waste dumping scandal in Welkom and other locations.

According to the latest enforcement report, seven men have now been sentenced to (relatively lightweight) fines ranging between R100,000 and R20,000 each in terms of guilty plea and sentence agreements. This came after the dumping of several thousand tons of medical waste that included filthy bandages, used needles and discarded pills.

A far heftier sentence was imposed on the Southern Sky Hotel in Limpopo province in September 2023 after it was expanded without the necessary authorisation, leading to sewage overflows into the environment and Kruger National Park.

The hotel as an entity was fined R3-million, while a female director was sentenced in her personal capacity to a R2-million fine.

However, the section reporting on the heavy industry, energy and waste sectors suggests that several operations have been dragging out efforts to bring them into compliance with air pollution limits and other environmental regulations.

Continued non-compliance was evident at a number of Eskom power stations. Several issues remained unresolved at the Kusile power station, and further warning notices were issued last year. Regulators are now reviewing further representations from Eskom after inspectors issued a final compliance notice in January 2023.

Several waste disposal contraventions were also found at the Matimba power station during a recent inspection, but no enforcement action has been taken yet, pending a follow-up inspection.

A SANParks officer conducts a flag marker training session at the scene of a crime. (Photo: Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment)

Bags of confiscated abalone in the Western Cape. (Photo: Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment)

Green Scorpions were also keeping an eye on remedial action plans submitted by the Tronox KZN Sands and South32 smelters in Richards Bay; Bushveld Vanchem and Samancor Ferrometals in Mpumalanga; and Scaw Metals and ArcelorMittal in Gauteng.

Regulators were also monitoring compliance actions at the Vissershok. Aloes and Dolphin Coast landfill sites following previous inspections.

A second pre-compliance notice was issued to the Gledhow Sugar Mill in April 2023 following previous non-compliance with sulphur dioxide and dust emission requirements. The Mondi paper mill in Richards Bay had submitted representations to regulators after several non-compliance issues were detected during a previous inspection in July 2022, and a further pre-compliance notice was served on the company in January 2023.

A compliance notice was also served on Sappi in January 2024 after several non-compliance issues were found during an inspection at its KwaDukuza mill last year.

Regulators were “currently monitoring the progress to the commitments made” by the Foskor fertiliser company after a pre-compliance notice was issued against this factory in Richards Bay after an inspection in early 2022.

On a brighter note, Craigie and her colleagues report that the 30-year-long Thor Chemicals waste scandal is nearing conclusion with the recent removal toxic of mercury waste from KwaZulu-Natal to a treatment facility in Switzerland, and finally to salt mines in Germany — DM

***

Green Scorpion hero awards

In recognition of their work, several national awards were made to members of the Green Scorpions and supporting organisations at a ceremony on November 21.

Advocate Abednego Lott Mgiba from the Skukuza Regional Court was honoured for his “outstanding contribution for the prosecution of environmental crimes”.

Mgiba, from the National Prosecuting Authority, finalised more than 70 cases in the specialised Skukuza environmental crimes court and ensured more than 100 convictions — including 39-year-jail sentences for two former members of the Kruger anti-poaching unit.

“His dedication is noticed not only through the sentences he has achieved, but also the selfless effort he is putting into every single case heard before the Court. The severity of some of the sentences he has achieved has set the tone for others to follow,” the citation reads.

Nicole Deschcamps and colleagues from the ComeAlive Website Design & Digital Marketing agency were recognised for providing IT services and eLearning support to members of the Green Scorpions over a period of several years.

The award for “best compliance team” was presented to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment biosecurity compliance team, represented by Sherece Chetty.

The “best criminal investigation team” was presented to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment’s Environmental Enforcement Fusion Centre (Digital Forensic Laboratory & Analyst Unit) whose members had helped to “lift the veil of the criminal world” by exposing their extended networks and inner operational workings. They also provided indispensable evidence in numerous court cases and helped to secure a collective total of 207 years imprisonment for offenders linked to conspiracy, financial crimes and organised crime.

Mothusiemang Joe Mecoara from the North West Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism was honoured as “best compliance officer”. He was praised for going ”above and beyond” in his duties, building strong relationships with law enforcement agencies and also helping to net more than R100,000 in fines for environmental offences last year.

Derryn Hirst from the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning was named “Best Administrative Enforcement Environmental Management Inspector” after leading more than 60 compliance inspections and very complex investigations, as well as preparing meticulously drafted directives and warning notices, several of which involved waste and sewage pollution.

The “Best Criminal Investigator” award was presented to Innocent Bopape from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment for investigating and securing convictions against two local municipalities for sewage pollution and waste crimes, as well as three businesses for air pollution and unlawful waste disposal.

“It is also worth noting that this nominee was the first Environmental Management Inspector who investigated and secured a conviction against an organ of state for the ineffective operation of a wastewater treatment works back in May 2022. This was a precedent-setting case and several investigations and prosecutions of state organs followed soon thereafter across the country. In that particular case the Municipality was fined R10-million, with R7-million suspended for 5 years, whilst the court ordered that R3-million must be spent on maintenance of the wastewater treatment works,” the citation states.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REeWvTRUpMk

Categories:

Our Burning Planet

Tags:

DM is much better if you are signed in...

Our Burning Planet

Green Scorpion hero awards