{"id":1597,"date":"2021-02-10T07:42:14","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T07:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/daerl\/2021\/02\/10\/media-statement-mec-manopole-applauds-the-police-for-a-swift-arrest-of-a-man-found-in-possession-of-a-protected-species\/"},"modified":"2021-02-10T07:42:14","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T07:42:14","slug":"media-statement-mec-manopole-applauds-the-police-for-a-swift-arrest-of-a-man-found-in-possession-of-a-protected-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/daerl\/2021\/02\/10\/media-statement-mec-manopole-applauds-the-police-for-a-swift-arrest-of-a-man-found-in-possession-of-a-protected-species\/","title":{"rendered":"MEDIA STATEMENT:MEC MANOPOLE APPLAUDS THE POLICE FOR A SWIFT ARREST OF A MAN FOUND IN POSSESSION OF A PROTECTED SPECIES"},"content":{"rendered":"

05 February 2021<\/p>\n

<\/span>The MEC for Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Land Reform and Rural Development, Ms Mase Manopole has applauded the police on the arrest of a 40-year-old male, who was allegedly found in possession of a succulents Conophytums wettsteinii in Springbok.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The suspect is charged for contravening the Northern Cape Nature Conservation Act 9 of 2009 Sections 50 and 51-the Possession of Protected Species. He is expected to appear in the local magistrate court soon.<\/p>\n

The Conophytums is a genus of succulent plants found in the Northern Cape, many of which are threatened with extinction and are protected by law.<\/span><\/p>\n

It occurs in the Richtersveld region and is fairly common around Steinkopf.<\/span><\/p>\n

The plant belongs to the Aizoaceae Family and is on the \u201cto have list\u201d of the huge trade among succulent collectors. It is well known for it features, not seen elsewhere in the plant kingdom, which is a combination of minutism, imitation of their surroundings and an extraordinary ability to store water.<\/span><\/p>\n

The arrest, follows a two-week long underground operation involving the Springbok Stock Theft and Endangered Species Unit, Upington Crime Intelligence, Vioolsdrift Border Intelligence and Upington Technical Support Units.<\/span><\/p>\n

The estimated value on the South African market is approximately R300 000-00.<\/span><\/p>\n

MEC Mase Manopole has applauded the police and further called on the community to work hand in hand with the law enforcement agencies, in order to bring the criminals to book.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said since the harvesting of succulents for the illegal trade began to escalate in recent years, there is a need for monitoring the extent of the illegal trade and its impact on these plants.<\/span><\/p>\n

MEC Manopole further said the Department will continue to work with the Police through Operation Phakisa.<\/span><\/p>\n

End<\/p>\n

Issues by the Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Land Reform and Rural Development.<\/p>\n

Media enquiries contact Zandisile Luphahla, Media Liaison Officer and spokesperson to the MEC, on 083 391 5388<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

05 February 2021 The MEC for Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Land Reform and Rural Development, Ms Mase Manopole has applauded the police on the arrest of a 40-year-old male, who was allegedly found in possession of a succulents Conophytums wettsteinii in Springbok.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-statements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/daerl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/daerl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/daerl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/daerl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/daerl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/daerl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/daerl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/daerl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/daerl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}