Former ‘crown prince of the Kruger’ Park found guilty of rhino poaching

Former Kruger National Park regional ranger Rodney Landela and state veterinary technician Kenneth Muchocho have been convicted of killing a white rhino in the park in 2016, bringing a decade-long trial in the Skukuza Regional Court to a close.

Delivering judgment on Friday, regional magistrate MJ Ngobeni rejected the accused men’s claim that they had been framed, ruling that the State had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Both accused were found guilty as charged on two counts, namely killing a rhino and possession of a firearm with intent to commit a crime.

At the time of their arrest in July 2016, both men occupied positions of trust in state structures operating inside the Kruger National Park.

Landela, then 34, had built a 15-year career at South African National Parks (SANParks). Joining the organisation in 2001 as a general worker, he rose through the ranks to become regional ranger for Marula North, overseeing vast operational sections of the park.

He was regarded as a potential future leader of the ranger corps. In court, Dr Xolani Funda, SANParks’ general manager for area integrity management, testified that Landela was held in such high esteem that he was considered the “crown prince” of the ranger corps and a likely candidate to become chief ranger. Shortly before his arrest, Landela had also been nominated for an executive position at the Game Rangers’ Association of Africa.

Muchocho was employed as an animal health technician by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), stationed at Skukuza to monitor animal diseases.

The case drew attention to the risk of insider poaching, in which people working in conservation and other state structures can potentially exploit their positions, access to park operations and specialist equipment to facilitate wildlife crime.

From the outset, the State had argued that Landela’s senior position, control over patrol deployments and access to key wildlife areas gave him capabilities valuable to poaching syndicates.

A dawn shooting and a wild dog cover story

On the morning of 27 July 2016, field rangers patrolling Block 37 in the Kingfisherspruit section of the Kruger National Park heard three gunshots in quick succession. Soon afterwards, they spotted two figures running through the bush towards a white Toyota Hilux bakkie.

Ranger teams dispatched to block escape routes intercepted the vehicle near the Majekejeni firebreak four-way junction. Muchocho was driving. Landela was in the passenger seat.

When field ranger Samuel Ndlovu stopped the bakkie at gunpoint, Landela told him they were looking for a cellphone signal to alert area mission manager Mbongeni Tukela about the gunshots reported in Block 37.

Landela then got out of Muchocho’s vehicle and entered Ndlovu’s SANParks vehicle. He instructed Muchocho to drive further down the road alone to find a signal, saying they needed to notify Tukela about the gunshots and coordinate backup.

Tracking teams following footprints from the spot where the Hilux had initially been parked in Block 37 discovered a freshly killed sub-adult white rhino bull. The animal had a gunshot wound and its main horn had been hacked off at the base.

Meanwhile, Corporal Lucky Ndlovu had followed Muchocho’s bakkie along the S106 road and saw the vehicle make a sudden U-turn.

Trackers later followed wheel-spin marks and footprints about 20 metres into the bush, where they found two items concealed beneath a thorn bush: a rifle bag containing Landela’s state-issued .375 CZ 550 Magnum hunting rifle, and a backpack containing the freshly severed rhino horn wrapped in plastic, a bloodstained axe and three spent .375 cartridge cases.

‘We were framed’

Both Landela and Muchocho denied involvement in the rhino killing, claiming that they had been framed.

Landela testified that on the evening before his arrest, he had locked his state-issued .375 CZ 550 Magnum rifle, backpack, spent cartridges, axe and GPS unit in the safe in his office at Satara camp. He told the court he was “still surprised to this day” how his rifle and equipment had ended up at a stash site in the bush alongside the severed rhino horn.

Asked under cross-examination who might have framed him, Landela said he had no idea. He testified that he was unaware of anyone holding a grudge against him during his 15 years at SANParks.

Landela also offered an explanation for the rhino DNA found on his clothing and boots. He testified that he had approached the carcass later that afternoon during the investigation to check whether poachers had inserted poison to kill scavenging vultures. He said he had lifted a flap of skin on the animal’s shoulder and suggested that his clothing might have brushed against bloodied vegetation.

State witnesses, including senior investigators, disputed this account, testifying that Landela had remained under arrest and had not been permitted near the carcass.

Under cross-examination, the State prosecutor, advocate Lot Mgiba, challenged Landela’s claim that an unknown person or persons had planted the incriminating evidence to frame him.

For Landela’s account to be true, Mgiba argued, someone would have had to gain access to Landela’s locked office and safe at Satara, remove his service rifle, backpack and spent cartridges, shoot and dehorn a white rhino in Block 37, and then conceal the equipment and severed horn beneath a bush along the S106 road.

The prosecution argued that this sequence of events had to be considered alongside the circumstances in which Landela and Muchocho were intercepted in the area on the morning the rhino was killed.

In his closing arguments, Mgiba argued that the accused could not have been framed because the rangers could not have known they would be at the scene. GPS data from Muchocho’s vehicle showed, he said, that it had been parked there for more than 25 minutes before the rhino was shot. Mgiba also argued that the accused’s accounts in court were an afterthought, differing from the explanations they had given on the day of their arrest.

The magistrate found in favour of the prosecution on this central issue.

In a statement, SANParks welcomed the verdict as a “significant victory in the fight against wildlife crime and protection of South Africa’s natural heritage”.

“The organisation commends the National Prosecuting Authority, investigators, law enforcement agencies, witnesses, and all individuals who contributed to ensuring that justice was ultimately served,” said SANParks spokesperson JP Louw.

Landela and Muchocho were remanded in custody pending sentencing on Friday, 16 October. DM

This story forms part of an in-depth Roving Reporters case study on State vs Rodney Landela and Kenneth Muchocho.