South Africa’s Minister of Environmental Affairs, Dr Edna Molewa today, 3 May 2018, witnessed the loading and departure of black rhino from the Addo Elephant National Park, Eastern Cape to Chad.
On 8 October 2017, Dr Molewa and the then Minister of Environment and Fisheries of the Republic of Chad, Dr Ahmat Mbodou Mahamat, signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the field of Biodiversity Conservation and Management in Pretoria. The Ministers had also signed a Memorandum which allows for the translocation of black rhino from South Africa to Chad as part of an initiative to reintroduce rhino to the African country.
The signing of the custodianship agreement for rhino between the two countries marked another step towards a pledge that had been made in 2013 by then President Jacob Zuma to President Idris Deby to translocate and reintroduce black rhinoceros to Chad.
The Minister described the signing of the two Agreements as the deepening of the already good bilateral relations that exist between South Africa and Chad, with special focus on consolidation of economic cooperation and other areas of mutual interest.
“By establishing a viable and secure rhino population of rhino in Chad, we are contributing to the expansion of the rhino population in Africa, and the survival of a species that has faced high levels of poaching for the past decade,” said Minister Molewa.
