Ghiazza silences the state
Wildlife dealer and accused smuggler Riccardo Ghiazza's lawyers have threatened legal action to prevent state officials from revealing details of permits issued to Ghiazza's company.
FIONA MACLEOD reports
ANIMAL dealer Riccardo Ghiazza threatened to take the government to court this week if it disclosed details of his lucrative business dealings. Ghiazza effectively silenced conservation officials, after the Mail & Guardian asked them for details of the permits issued to him by the government. This followed at least six weeks of wrangling about whether these details should be placed in the public domain.
His lawyers warned the officials that if they released the information, it could prejudice his commercial interests and they could end up paying for it.
The officials countered that while it may be necessary to hide certain commercial information on the permit applications -- like prices and customer details -- other information on the sale of wildlife is in the public interest and should be released.
They add there is an urgent need for a transparent national policy on public access to government information about environmental issues and conservation.
Various groups, including the police's endangered species protection unit (ESPU), have been trying for weeks to inspect Ghiazza's permits -- required by law for the transportation and sale of wild animals.
The ESPU wants to check whether there have been any irregularities in the issuing of permits to Ghiazza. Other groups are concerned about the scale of his trade and whether it is having an impact on South Africa's wildlife, especially endangered species.
There has been heightened interest in his dealings lately, not only owing to his involvement in the Tuli elephant scandal, but because he is reported to be getting together a huge shipment of animals to send to China.
Animal welfare groups point out that there has been a high mortality rate on Ghiazza's previous shipments to the Far East, and there are no laws guaranteeing the welfare of the animals in China.
The planned shipment, due to go out of the country in the next few weeks, will apparently include such rare and endangered species as wild dogs and black rhinos. Officials at the Department of Conservation and Environment in the North-West province, which issues Ghiazza's permits, are getting legal advice on whether information on the sale and movement of such species should be kept secret.
"It's in the interests of everyone that this information comes out," says Deon Swart, head of regulatory services at the department. "The problem is, we don't have a national policy or management system to guide us on how to proceed."
Pieter Botha, deputy director of biodiversity management at the national Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, points out that commercial information like who Ghiazza's clients are and what prices he charges needs to be kept confidential.
"But when it comes to disclosing information about how many permits he has received and for what species, there are no formal rules. So it's up to each province to determine what they will reveal."
Botha says a working committee has recently been set up by his department to discuss national policy on permits. But it is still "in its infancy" -- and the issue of public access to information on the environment and conservation has not yet been placed on its agenda.
"Riccardo Ghiazza and his dealings are just a product of the present fragmented control system," says Swart. "We're moving into a new field of conservation -- resource economics --and the government urgently needs to get a transparent, negotiated management system in place to deal with it."