ActionSA has launched an investigation into the conduct of the newly appointed Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Willie Aucamp, amid allegations that he acted to benefit his declared interests upon assuming office, raising serious concerns about potential conflicts of interest and ethical integrity and warranting further scrutiny.
ActionSA will be submitting a series of questions to the Minister to ascertain the veracity of allegations that, upon his appointment, Minister Aucamp terminated the mandate of a task team investigating the captive lion industry, which was overseeing recommendations to phase out the industry, an act that not only represents a 180-degree reversal of agreed government policy but could also directly benefit the Minister’s interests if proven true.
Importantly, in response to ActionSA’s parliamentary question, the Minister failed to provide substantive answers regarding his private business interests, flatly denying any conflict of interest while refusing to clarify whether his mining, animal breeding and hunting businesses will be placed into a blind trust, as would be necessary to prevent any conflicts between his private interests and the functions and mandate of the ministry he heads.
This task team, allegedly terminated by the new Minister, was not established arbitrarily but was created following a court judgment that explicitly affirmed the Department’s duty to safeguard animal welfare, and in response, then-Minister Barbara Creecy established the team to investigate the industry and oversee the phasing out of the captive lion industry and the lion bone trade, with its recommendations subsequently endorsed by Parliament.
Against this backdrop, ActionSA has launched a probe, as it would be highly suspicious for a Minister with interests potentially linked to the lion bone trade to allegedly, immediately upon appointment, take steps to obstruct work aimed at phasing out the industry, with the optics being deeply troubling and the implications for ethical conservation and animal welfare even more serious.
ActionSA believes that the allegations raise serious ethical red flags, suggesting that the Minister could be captured by private commercial interests rather than acting in the best interests of environmental protection, animal welfare and the South African public.
ActionSA will therefore be submitting a comprehensive series of parliamentary questions to demand full disclosure and clarity on the Minister’s business interests, his compliance with ethical standards, and the rationale behind decisions that appear to undermine a legally mandated and Parliament-endorsed framework to phase out an industry in which the Minister has declared financial interests.
ActionSA Probes Potential Conflict of Interest by New Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment
ActionSA has launched an investigation into the conduct of the newly appointed Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Willie Aucamp, amid allegations that he acted to benefit his declared interests upon assuming office, raising serious concerns about potential conflicts of interest and ethical integrity and warranting further scrutiny.
ActionSA will be submitting a series of questions to the Minister to ascertain the veracity of allegations that, upon his appointment, Minister Aucamp terminated the mandate of a task team investigating the captive lion industry, which was overseeing recommendations to phase out the industry, an act that not only represents a 180-degree reversal of agreed government policy but could also directly benefit the Minister’s interests if proven true.
Importantly, in response to ActionSA’s parliamentary question, the Minister failed to provide substantive answers regarding his private business interests, flatly denying any conflict of interest while refusing to clarify whether his mining, animal breeding and hunting businesses will be placed into a blind trust, as would be necessary to prevent any conflicts between his private interests and the functions and mandate of the ministry he heads.
This task team, allegedly terminated by the new Minister, was not established arbitrarily but was created following a court judgment that explicitly affirmed the Department’s duty to safeguard animal welfare, and in response, then-Minister Barbara Creecy established the team to investigate the industry and oversee the phasing out of the captive lion industry and the lion bone trade, with its recommendations subsequently endorsed by Parliament.
Against this backdrop, ActionSA has launched a probe, as it would be highly suspicious for a Minister with interests potentially linked to the lion bone trade to allegedly, immediately upon appointment, take steps to obstruct work aimed at phasing out the industry, with the optics being deeply troubling and the implications for ethical conservation and animal welfare even more serious.
ActionSA believes that the allegations raise serious ethical red flags, suggesting that the Minister could be captured by private commercial interests rather than acting in the best interests of environmental protection, animal welfare and the South African public.
ActionSA will therefore be submitting a comprehensive series of parliamentary questions to demand full disclosure and clarity on the Minister’s business interests, his compliance with ethical standards, and the rationale behind decisions that appear to undermine a legally mandated and Parliament-endorsed framework to phase out an industry in which the Minister has declared financial interests.