Alleged rhino horn kingpin arrested again while on bail

Alleged rhino horn kingpin Dawie Groenewald – who has been awaiting trial since 2010 – has been arrested yet again for possession of rhino horn worth R2.5m, Beeld reports. The well-known Limpopo game farmer and a businessman, Schalk Abraham Steyn, are in an opposed bail application in the Mbombela Magistrate’s Court. Police spokesperson Katlego Mogale said the men were arrested on Wednesday as part of an operation to combat rhino poaching and rhino horn trading. The police attached 19 horns and two Toyota Hilux bakkies used to transport the horn. Groenewald was out on bail of R100 000 for his pending matter in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria). Judge Bert Bam asked in March why the trial of Groenewald and his co-accused had been dragging along for almost 12 years. One of the delays was caused by the death of Groenewald’s defence counsel, Piet van Wyk SC, due to Covid-19. The trial is also being held up pending a Constitutional Court challenge of the government’s moratorium on rhino horn trading. The duo are scheduled to appear in the High Court again in September. The bail application in Mbombela continues today.

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