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All news on rhino poaching in SA national parks will now come from the national government, raising suspicions about further curbs on news of the national rhino poaching crisis.

SA National Parks spokesman Wanda Mkutshulwa issued a statement on Monday that until further notice all matters related to rhino poaching will be addressed by the Environmental Affairs Department (DEA).

This will include the updates that SANParks has been giving to the media about rhino poaching statistics, all interviews related to rhino poaching and all issues of clarity or information.

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife chief executive Bandile Mkhize said he was unaware of the policy change and thought it applied to SANParks only.

For the past few months SANParks has been co-ordinating information on national rhino poaching statistics on its website and reporting on the involvement of its rangers in the crisis.

Last week, when The Mercury tried to confirm that the poaching toll had risen to more than 100 rhinos in the past 68 days, Mkutshulwa said: I would not know. But we are told there are people who keeps tabs on these reports so we are not releasing any other stats. We do it once a month. That is the instruction we have We will release towards the end of March.

Responding to the latest change in the rhino information policy on Monday, Mkutshulwa said: There is nothing sinister to have all rhino poaching media and public issues go through the Department of Environmental Affairs as they have been going through SANParks.

It is an administrative arrangement which makes sense because this is a national issue. The department will be conducting this matter the same way SANParks has been doing.

Read more from the original source:
Government to control rhino poaching news