S.African sentenced in 'world's largest' rhino trafficking case

The country is home to most of the world's rhinos and is a hotspot for poaching driven by demand in Asia where the horns fetch high prices on the black market.

Hunting safari operator Dawie Groenewald was fined R2 million (US$122,860) on Wednesday after entering into a plea deal in a case marred by numerous delays and court challenges since 2010, the police's elite Hawks unit said.

Wild white rhinos are seen at an undisclosed location in the North West Province of South Africa in 2023. Photo by AFP

He and his co-accused faced more than 1,700 charges including racketeering, money laundering, illegal hunting and dehorning of rhinoceroses, it said in a statement.

Ten of the state's 185 witnesses had passed away while the case was before the courts and some had emigrated, it said. Two of the original 11 accused had since died.

The case was "regarded as the world's largest rhino horn trafficking investigation" with Groenewald as "the mastermind behind the large-scale rhino horn trafficking enterprise," the statement said.

In 2014 the U.S. Justice Department accused Groenewald and his brother Janneman of selling American hunters illegal trips to hunt wild rhinos in South Africa under false pretences.

The number of white rhino in Africa had dropped to just over 15,750 by August 2025, according to the International Rhino Foundation.

The numbers of critically endangered black rhino were recovering and stood at nearly 6,800 on the continent, it said.