Stock Image Pixabay (sungaze lizard)
A Gauteng couple has been sentenced in the Kempton Park Regional Court this week for their role in the smuggling of reptiles from South Africa.
Gerald van der Westhuizen was fined R1 million of which half was suspended for five years on condition that he is not convicted of a similar offence.
Spokesperson for the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Peter Mbelengwa says Gerald's wife Elisha was sentenced to five years direct imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years.
He says the couple was linked to two German nationals who have already been convicted for smuggling lizards and other reptiles from South Africa.
Mbelengwa says the success was a result of analysis by the Environmental Enforcement Fusion Centre.
He says when Mr van der Westhuizen's WhatsApp messages were analysed they saw that on three occasions he illegally sent Sungazer lizards to Germany and Mexico.
According to the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), Sungazers are the largest lizards in the girdled lizard group, containing more than 50 species.
The lizards, covered in scales, have a habit of looking up towards the sun, hence the name ‘sungazers’.
The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Ms Barbara Creecy welcomed the sentences handed down to the Gauteng couple.
"The conviction and sentencing demonstrate the important work being undertaken in implementing the National Integrated Strategy to Combat Wildlife Trafficking with a focus on disrupting transnational organized crime and targeting the value chain and financial crimes linked to the illegal wildlife trade," said Minister Creecy.
