Durban — Hollywood actress and Barbie star Margot Robbie will produce a fiction flick, set for production next year, focusing on an alleged syndicate of police, state prosecutors and magistrates aiding and abetting rhino poaching locally.
How Eric Nzimande, the suspended KwaZulu-Natal Regional Court president, allegedly masterminded the “catch and release” of people linked to the syndicate will be brought to the fore in the movie.
The efforts of rhino activist Jamie Joseph, of Saving the Wild, in exposing members of the alleged cabal prospering from the rhino horn trade will be the central theme.
The criminal proceedings against Nzimande, who was suspended in 2018, relating to the fraud and corruption charges he faces, will begin at the Durban Magistrate’s Court this week.
This after the Department of Justice’s preliminary processes in the related disciplinary hearings instituted against Nzimande began hush-hush in Durban on Monday.
Retired former Gauteng deputy judge president and Supreme Court of Appeal judge Jeremiah Shongwe will handle Nzimande’s internal disciplinary process, which has been set down for two weeks, beginning next year.
Maritshane Finger, secretary of the Magistrate’s Commission, confirmed Judge Shongwe’s appointment.
“Nzimande is a Regional Court president, so someone of high standing, equal or above Nzimande’s rank, has to preside over the matter.
“There are 162 charges against him and the matter will begin on January 22 at the Point Branch Court (Durban),” Finger said.
In August, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola responded to questions in Parliament about the delay in Nzimande’s matter. Lamola said Nzimande had received a salary of well over R6 million during his five years of suspension and that the commission had struggled to find a presiding officer with the appropriate rank to handle his disciplinary.
Some of the misconduct allegations indicated that between 2012 and 2015, Nzimande victimised and/or sexually harassed an acting regional magistrate, and demanded sexual favours for her appointment.
It was also claimed that he granted job perks to others for sexual favours, and he received numerous payments into his bank accounts from attorneys for approving their acting magistrate’s positions.
The criminal court proceedings were delayed due to two magistrates and a couple of the National Prosecuting Authority’s evidence leaders withdrawing from the matter.
Advocate Elaine Harrison, KwaZulu-Natal’s director of public prosecutions, confirmed that summons for Nzimande’s court appearance this week had been served.
Harrison did not divulge further details on the matter.
Nzimande has maintained his innocence regarding charges in both the DC and criminal proceedings and, according to his legal representative, attorney Ravindra Maniklall, his client awaits the chance to clear his name.
“He has been waiting eight years for his day in court to clear his name. We have been pushing for the matter to be finalised. The longer it drags on, the greater the reputational damage,” said Maniklall.
Meanwhile, Joseph who was raised in South Africa and born in Zimbabwe, has spent eight years lifting the lid on wanton rhino poaching, largely in KZN and the Kruger National Park, that has decimated the animal’s population.
Joseph’s sleuthing showed that the perpetrators were allegedly being shielded by some who were responsible for law enforcement.
Her findings will be depicted in Margot’s movie, which will be produced under the LuckyChap production company she co-founded.
Some LuckChap’s productions include I, Tonya, Birds of Prey and Barbie, which has amassed in excess of one billion dollars at global box offices.
Joseph released her ‘Blood Rhino Blacklist’ in 2017, where she unveiled the alleged machinations of the cabal and the role-players who benefited from horn-trading and magistrates, prosecutors and police who turned a blind eye to corruption, rape of children and other crimes.
Included in her list of claims were people who allegedly paid money into Nzimande’s bank accounts for the delivery of certain favours.
She received endorsement from prominent international and local figures, including Sir Richard Branson, Dr Jane Goodall, former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, and local musician Vusi Mahlasela.
On Nzimande’s trial beginning this week, Joseph said: “The tentacles of corruption are long and wide, so I’m anxious about how things will unfold.”
Joseph said the courts were the country’s last line of accountability for those responsible for various atrocities.
She said it was frustrating that in spite of having all the required personnel, technology and weaponry, the rhino population was still being reduced rapidly because of corruption.
Robbie met Joseph in June 2018 and has been moved by findings yielded by Saving the Wild and their clashes with the “rhino mafia”.
Robbie and her husband, LuckyChap producing partner Tom Ackerley, alongside producer Anthony Mastromauro and Academy award-winning screenwriter Charles Randolph, visited Joseph and some of her team on the ground in Kruger to learn more about the rhino crisis in June 2019.
“I think the movie is currently the only chance we have at saving them, because the world is oblivious to what’s happening on the ground,” said Joseph.
When asked if Margot would be playing Joseph in the movie, she said: “I can’t answer that question until the final script sign-off.”
She also announced that Saving the Wild’s legal team, Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa, was working pro bono, and preparing a constitutional challenge regarding the government’s failure to adequately prosecute environmental crimes.
“In 2014, rhino poaching was declared a national priority crime in South Africa, and yet contradictory to this, there is no minimum sentence legislation to this effect.
“Going forward, I truly hope the government decides to be on the right side of history,” said Joseph.
Sunday Tribune