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RHINO POACHING REWARD

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Kindly publish my opinion in your paper.

I am a seasoned indigenous Swazi citizen, an officer of the law and above all; a Christian. I feel appalled to always come across this advert by Swaziland BGPs on rhino poaching. I just wonder why they keep making such an advert when they know very well they are just window-dressing to the Swazi nation. If BGPs has all the guts to lure people to the parks and go on to slaughter them without trial, why should they suggest they are desperate in their noble task of protecting this endangered species? As Swazis we humbly appreciate all the efforts they have put in place to have all the animal species preserved for our next generations in that sanctuary. In law no one is allowed to trap people committing crimes; let alone slaughtering them.

I’m reminded of a one time when so called poachers were gunned down in a well coordinated operation in Big-Bend. But what surprised everybody was that immediately after that successful operation, and on the following week, we heard a story that someone from BGPs had been charged for approaching a judge privately on a matter involving that operation which occurred in Big-Bend. If that killing was legitimate and within the ambits of the law, why would this senior citizen approach a judicial officer privately?

Poaching remains a punishable offence in our statutes. Sentences for such an offence are good and are a deterrent to poachers if correctly applied. I’m sorry this kind of advert opens up a trap for poachers to be killed willy nilly in well planned and coordinated operations by game rangers. No law allows this to happen in this country. No one is given a legitimate right to kill someone under the pretext that he was found committing a crime. People must be apprehended, brought before the courts of law, tried and sentenced appropriately. Let us not be fooled to believe that such an advert by BGPs would ever yield positive fruits. This is just window-dressing to the nation while BGPs is busy with its agenda of targeting and slaughtering so called poachers. As much as crime is an affront to any nation in the world; life remains sacred. It is divinely given by God, and it must be terminated by God.

The God we worship is a God of justice. The country’s legal system should be trusted enough that we arrest and bring before it all those who break the laws of the land, and not the other way round.

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