“Almost 500 Mozambican poacher

Park ranger Stephen Midzi patrols a section of Kruger National Park, in northern South Africa, scouting for possible poachers on July 31, 2014. The game ranger with a rifle slung across his shoulders follows a bush trail through South Africa’s famed Kruger national park, alert to the slightest sound or movement. He faces threats not […]

“Almost 500 Mozambican poachers killed in the last five years in the Kruger National Park”

While the ex-Mozambican president’s figures cannot be confirmed, nobody seems to be able to to deny them either…

“Almost 500 Mozambican poacher

Park ranger Stephen Midzi patrols a section of Kruger National Park, in northern South Africa, scouting for possible poachers on July 31, 2014. The game ranger with a rifle slung across his shoulders follows a bush trail through South Africa’s famed Kruger national park, alert to the slightest sound or movement. He faces threats not […]

Former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano claims that armed guards in the Kruger National Park have killed almost 500, mostly young, Mozambicans for poaching activities over the last five years.

Rangers in the Kruger National Park are allowed to open fire if they are faced with lethal force. The Kruger shares a 350km border with Mozambique and armed poachers often enter through here.

Chissano, who has a foundation that helps conservation, said that so far 82 poachers have been killed in 2015 and 106 during 2014. He did not cite a source for his figures and SAPS have not yet confirmed them.

In January this year, Al Jazeera ran a feature on the human victims in the fight against poaching and even then, the figures were not clear. The Al Jazeera piece stated:

SANParks representatives will not say how many poachers are killed in the park. Instead, they use the word “neutralized” to refer to people who have been either arrested or killed. Jooste says more than 300 were neutralized in the area of the park, including 160 inside Kruger. More than 150 firearms were confiscated from the suspected poachers.