The Northern Cape High Court has ruled that rhino horn harvested from registered captive breeding operations can be exported. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Fazry Ismail) 
The Northern Cape Division of the High Court in Kimberly on Friday, 31 October 2025, ruled that rhino horn harvested from registered captive breeding operations can be exported as such facilities are devoted to conservation and not commercial purposes, a decision that potentially signals the end of the almost five-decade ban on the global trade in the commodity.
The applicant in the case is Wicus Diedericks, who has for more than a decade run a captive breeding operation for rhino on a 33,000 ha conservancy. The respondents are the MEC for Environmental Affairs in the Northern Cape and the national minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.
Diedericks maintained that his operation was costing him R20-million annually to feed, protect and propagate his white rhinos, and that he was running out of money to maintain the operation.
The only way to fund it was to “monetise some of the rhino horn which he has sustainably harvested from the animals he protects”, the judgment says.
“The applicant applied for a number of permits to export the horn originating solely from the white rhinoceros, bred on his conservancy… The first respondent had not dealt with these applications and the applicant launched a hybrid application in respect of 10 such applications seeking an order compelling the first respondent to make the necessary decisions.”
Diedericks contended that such trade was legal under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) as it was adopted by South Africa and was incorporated into domestic law — a contention disputed by the respondents.
The court ruled in favour of Diedericks, pointedly noting that “Article VII of CITES makes provision for ‘exemptions’ in animals or specimens bred in captivity for non-commercial purposes such as conservation.
“If the animal is bred in captivity one of these exemptions will, depending upon the question as to whether the animal was bred for commercial or conservation purposes, be triggered,” the ruling says.
‘Clearly aimed at conservation’
“The applicant has run his conservancy for a decade. It is clearly aimed at conservation. It is clearly a captive breeding operation. It cannot be disputed that it is not run for commercial purposes. The applicant is entitled to the exemption provided for in Article VI paragraph 5,” it says, declaring that the exemption outlined in Article VII is part of South African law and that no import permit is required from the receiving country.
The judgment set aside the Northern Cape department’s refusal to grant permits for Diedericks to export rhino horn.
“The MEC is directed to take a decision on whether to issue the applicant with a certificate within 7 days of this order and to notify the applicant and his attorney of the decision, and in the event that the decision is to refuse to grant a permit/certificate to the applicant, the MEC must simultaneously provide her reasons,” the ruling says.
The respondents were also ordered to pay the costs.
“This is more than a legal win — it’s a lifeline for rhinos and a bold step toward 21st-century conservation,” Diedericks said in a statement.
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment did not immediately respond to a request for comment and the Northern Cape officials could not immediately be reached.
The issue of trade in rhino horn has long been a bone of conservation contention and this landmark decision is sure to stir controversy.
Opponents have long maintained that lifting the global ban and creating a legal market would increase poaching, with illegally taken horn from dead animals laundered into licit supplies. There has also been criticism of the conservation value of captive-bred operations.
Proponents of a legal trade — including John Hume, once the biggest rhino breeder in the world who now stands accused of scheming to defy the global ban — have maintained that the proceeds are needed for conservation and that if a market exists it can only be met with poaching if the ban remains in place.
Read more: How John Hume allegedly schemed to defy global rhino horn trade ban
The main markets for rhino horn are in Asia, where it is coveted for a range of reasons, including nonsensical medical purposes.
It remains to be seen if the judgment will be challenged — or if rhino horn within a week will be cleared for export for sale for the first time in almost five decades. DM