BIG GAMES WINS RHINOS CASE AGAINST VET DIRECTOR

MBABANE – The High Court has ordered that the condition to quarantine 16 black rhinos, which were purchased by Big Game Parks, for 30 days be deleted from the veterinary import permit.

The order was granted by consent of the Big Game Parks Trustees and government.
The trustees had taken the director of Veterinary and Livestock Services, Dr Xolani Dlamini, minister and principal secretary in the ministry of Agriculture to court, after Dr Dlamini imposed Regulation 6(3) of the Stock Disease Regulations of 1933 on the veterinary import permit.

This regulation comes with restrictive conditions requiring that wild animals be held in quarantine for a fixed period upon arrival in the country.
Big Game Parks purchased the 16 black rhinos from the Buffalo Dream Ranch in the North West Province and they were destined for Hlane Royal National Park in the Lubombo Region.

order

The order, which was issued by Judge Mumcy Dlamini following the consent of the parties, interdicts government from imposing any condition that has the effect of restricting the importation of the black rhinos.
Government has also been ordered to stop interfering with the import of the rhinos described in the import permits.

The order further declares that when acting in terms of Regulation 6(3), Dr Dlamini is not empowered by law to grant import permits subject to restrictive conditions requiring the isolation of wild animals upon arrival in the country, unless it is reasonably necessary and the animals are suited to confinement.
Dr Dlamini was also ordered to, in exercise of his discretion in terms of Regulation 6(3) of the Act, notify the applicants for such veterinary import permits before taking the decision to grant the permits, subject to the conditions concerned.

The applicants, according to the order, are to be granted the opportunity to make representations before the decision is taken, which allows for meaningful engagement with Dr Dlamini.

The trustees, who were represented by Kenneth Motsa of Robinson Bertram, had applied that the court should stop the director from interfering with the import of the black rhinos.
Terrence Reilly, who is a Trustee, submitted that Regulation 6 did not empower the director by law to grant veterinary import permits subject to conditions that affected them.

Reilly informed the court that on July 25, 2018, Dr Dlamini approved Big Game Park’s application for an import permit for the black rhinos and imposed the isolation condition.
The granting of the import permit subject to this condition, according to Reilly, was in line with the policy adopted by the veterinary services in May 2018.
The policy makes all veterinary import permits to be issued in terms of the Stock and Diseases Regulations, subject to some form of quarantine.
Reilly argued that the director did not engage with the Big Game Parks Trust beforehand, to advise the trustees of his intention to impose the condition in respect of rhinos or any other species.

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