Chair, living according to the values of a just and caring society is an awesome challenge! Most of us get this right to some degree at times - perhaps not the hon Mike Ellis - but the rest of us fall short a lot of the time.
Today my attention has been drawn to what I consider one of my shortcomings. I cringe a little at the idea that, as Jawaharlal Nehru says:
We are known by the way we treat our animals.
Collectively, as South Africans we should be more than cringing right now at the systematic destruction of our wildlife heritage, in particular rhino, through years of unprosecuted thieving, which erodes any facade of our being a caring society.
In April the Minister said a special national wildlife reaction unit was to be set up to combat the activities of organised crime syndicates engaged in the poaching of rhino horn.
With a total of 4 661 environmental crime cases reported nationally, there was a compelling case for the establishment of environmental courts with prosecutors and magistrates trained for environmental crimes.
Referring to water issues last month, she said that the launch of the first courts would be in the near future. Recent official reports accusing the chief operating officer of the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency and the principal officer of the agency's provident fund of poaching rhino horn in the province point to the urgent need for these courts.
The World Wildlife Fund's African Rhino Programme has asked people to take action during this month to help protect our remaining rhino populations and also to support people like Gilberto Vicente, who was murdered in August, as they risk their lives daily against the sophisticated, ruthless and heavily armed international criminal gangs who run the illegal rhino horn trade.
The month will culminate in Make Noise for Rhinos Day, during which people are asked to blow their vuvuzelas at 13h00 on Wednesday, 22 September in a symbolic call on government to take this issue seriously, strengthen law enforcement and impose strict legal penalties as successful deterrents. Thank you. [Time expired.]