GEORGE NEWS - Conservationists have raised the alarm over a landmark wildlife case set for judgment in the Thembalethu Regional Court tomorrow, Wednesday 1 April, warning that it may collapse not because of innocence, but due to the prosecution’s legal failings.
The case, the State vs André Barnard, involves the alleged trapping and killing of a leopard on a Uniondale farm in August 2020.
Some photographs of the animal, which died of dehydration in a cage trap, led to criminal charges against the farmer.
“Now, at the close of the prosecution’s case, the defence has applied for a discharge under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act, arguing that the State has failed to prove that the accused personally set the trap or caused it to be set.
"The accused’s legal team may be correct on the charges that were actually brought. And therein lies the problem,” said Dr Bool Smuts, founder and general manager of the Landmark Foundation Trust.
The foundation says the prosecution charged Barnard under older legislation, the Nature Conservation Ordinance and the Animals Protection Act, rather than the primary national laws designed to protect leopards.
The leopard is listed under South Africa’s Threatened or Protected Species (Tops) regulations, promulgated under the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (Nemba). Section 34 of the National Environmental Management Act (Nema) could also hold landowners criminally liable for environmental harm committed by employees or others on their property.
According to Smuts, none of these laws were invoked in the case.
“This case is not collapsing because the system lacks tools to deliver justice. It is failing because the people responsible chose not to use those tools,” he said.
The prosecution also failed to call a key witness who could have given direct evidence about who it was that had set the trap. If the magistrate grants a discharge under Section 174, the accused could be permanently acquitted due to constitutional protections against double jeopardy, meaning no retrial would be possible even if further evidence emerged.
Smuts warned that the case reflects a wider problem.
“The failure to apply Nemba, Tops and Nema in leopard persecution cases is a pattern. South Africa’s apex predators remain under-protected by the very laws designed to safeguard them,” he said.
The Landmark Foundation has called on the Director of Public Prosecutions to urgently intervene and ensure the correct legislation is considered before judgment.
It has also urged the National Prosecuting Authority to review its practices in wildlife cases and make sure leopards and other listed species are properly protected under the law.
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