Johannesburg — A special national wildlife reaction unit is to be set up to combat the activities of organised crime syndicates engaged in the poaching of rhino horn, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica announced in Parliament.

The syndicates, which feed demand for rhino horn in the Far East, were spreading their activities beyond the Kruger National Park and KwaZulu-Natal and were now operating in the Eastern Cape and North West too .

They often paid staff at the parks and members of surrounding communities to find and shoot the sought-after animals.

"SA has been under tremendous pressure over the past two years regarding the number of rhino horns that have been poached in private and public protected areas," Sonjica told the media after her budget vote on environmental affairs.

The special wildlife reaction unit, which would have an initial budget of R2m, would work with environmental inspectors (the Green Scorpions) to combat the poachers. The budget would be increased over time, as the government was dealing with "sophisticated syndicates".

The new unit would work closely with other law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Justice.

Dedicated time slots in the regional or district courts of Johannesburg, Hermanus, Durban and Nelspruit would process environmental cases. Other courts would be included on an annual basis. More than 300 prosecutors and 200 magistrates had been trained for environmental crimes .

"With a total of 4661 environmental cases reported nationally from April 1 2008 to March 31 2009, we have a compelling case for the establishment of environmental courts," Sonjica said.

Deputy director-general for biodiversity and conservation Fundisile Mketeni said the department projected that 163 rhino would be lost to poachers this financial year, with 55 having already been killed since January. A total of 253 rhino were poached between 2005 and 2008, and 104 last year.

The new unit would ensure proper patrolling of parks, collection of on-site data and processing of police dockets. Kruger National Park staff had already been convicted and jailed for collaborating with syndicates.

Mketeni noted there were more than 20000 black and white rhino in SA, which bred at a rate of about 6,6% annually. SA could export excess stock to other African countries where the population was diminishing.

Sonjica said SA would repatriate 32 black rhino from the Addo Elephant Park outside Port Elizabeth to Tanzania, their natural habitat .