Illustrative image: Endangered African penguins at Boulders Beach, Simon’s Town. (Photo: Kristin Engel) | Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Dion George. (Photo: Gallo Images / Misha Jordaan) 
A short statement from the office of the Presidency has ended speculation and rising concern about the fate of the embattled Environment Minister Dion George.
It read: “In accordance with section 91(3)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, I have appointed Mr Willem Abraham Stephanus Aucamp, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment. Consequently, I have removed Dr Dion George from the portfolio in accordance with section 91 (2) of the Constitution.
“Furthermore, I have appointed Ms Alexandra Lilian Amelia Abrahams as Deputy Minister, Trade, Industry and Competition, in accordance with section 93 (1) (a) of the Constitution.
“I wish Mr Aucamp and Ms Abrahams well in their portfolios.”
A congratulatory note to Aucamp from the Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa read: “On behalf of the Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa (Phasa), we extend our sincere congratulations on your appointment as Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. Your leadership marks an important chapter for conservation and environmental governance in our country.”
George is presently in Belém, Brazil, where he heads the country’s team at the Convention on Climate Change (COP30).
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Opening-5.jpeg "Dion George delivering the opening statement of South Africa at COP30. (Photo: Supplied / DFFE)")
Read more: The sacking of Dion George — how a progressive minister is being taken down by the wildlife breeders
In an exclusive interview that he gave Daily Maverick several days ago, he said: “The President sent me. I’m leading our delegation and co-chairing the important Adaptation Committee. Its outcomes are crucial to South Africa.
“I have to stay focused here, I’m still minister. I’m doing my job without fear, favour or prejudice and will continue.”
That position has now radically changed, and it’s not known, in terms of key negotiations at COP30, what George’s status and authority are now as head of the country’s team there.
In the exchange with Daily Maverick, George pointed out that in terms of his role as environment minister, he was carrying out the DA resolutions from its 2023 Congress.
“Shutting down captive lion breeding is DA policy. We gave the lion-bone holders a voluntary exit path and set the export quota to zero. They are now suing me. I rejected the proposal to open the rhino horn export market. This is DA policy.
“My duty is to the people of South Africa and to the environmental commitments we have made. I will not be distracted. My focus remains on delivery and results. Evil triumphs in the world when good people do nothing. I will not do nothing.”
Whether he takes the demotion lying down remains to be seen, but he cannot go against a presidential order. Following the reshuffle, George told Daily Maverick's Victoria O'Regan that he "respects the party’s decision and remains focused on serving South Africa.”
Outrage
Back home, the conservation community, politicians and scientists reacted with outrage to the firing of George and his replacement by Willie Aucamp, a man closely associated with the wildlife breeding and hunting community.
The Democratic Alliance leader, Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, reportedly cited “under-performance” as a reason for wanting George removed.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ED_562820.jpg "John Steenhuisen. (Photo: Brenton Geach / Gallo Images)")
Writing in TimesLIVE, Claire Keeton noted the opposite. Since his appointment as minister of forestry, fisheries and the environment in July 2024, George had carved out an unusually activist role in a department previously criticised for inertia. He had built on the ground laid by his predecessor, Barbara Creecy.
He oversaw South Africa’s signing of the High Seas Treaty, chaired the G20 environmental and climate sustainability meeting in Cape Town and launched a national coastal adaptation plan encompassing 21 outcomes and 150 interventions for climate resilience.
His department cleared major backlogs, finalised 162 environmental appeals and processed more than 3,000 renewable-energy applications — achievements that earned the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) an unqualified audit for 2024/25.
His ministry had also tightened oversight of Eskom’s emissions exemptions to bring cleaner-air standards to pollution hotspots, winning praise from health advocates and environmental-justice groups
BirdLife South Africa and Sanccob credit his department with saving the African penguin species from imminent collapse by swiftly enforcing a court order to restrict sardine fishing around African penguin breeding colonies. Anti-poaching units received new support, including a K9 team tackling abalone smuggling off Hout Bay, Cape Town. These actions, conservationists say, restored confidence in a department previously viewed as moribund.
The lion-bone fault line
Critics inside and outside the party say the minister’s real offence was taking on one of South Africa’s most politically charged and lucrative sectors: the captive lion and wildlife-breeding industry. In doing that, he painted a target on his back.
Soon after taking office, George froze new permits for captive-lion breeding and reduced the lion-bone export quota to zero, following the recommendations of a ministerial task team created after a 2020 court victory by the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA). The industry — worth millions through canned hunts, cub-petting attractions and exports of bones to Asia — responded with fury. Eleven members of the SA Predator Association have since taken the department to court, seeking reinstatement of the quota.
Conservationists see the backlash against George as direct retaliation for those decisions. The Wildlife Animal Protection Forum South Africa (Wapfsa), a coalition of 30 NGOs including the EMS Foundation, Wild Law Institute and Good Governance Africa, this week lodged an official complaint with the DA’s Federal Legal Commission after Steenhuisen proposed party spokesperson Aucamp to replace George. It also wrote an open letter to Ramaphosa.
Wapfsa warned that Aucamp’s “private interests could influence the state’s decision-making to his own advantage”, noting that his family businesses were active in game breeding and trophy hunting through Aucamp Farming and Bellevue Hunting Safaris.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/WhatsApp-Image-2025-11-12-at-14.57.42.jpeg "DA MP Willie Aucamp. (Photo: Willie Aucamp / Facebook)")
The forum accused Steenhuisen of trying to remove George before the next Cites Conference of the Parties, scheduled for later this year, “in an attempt to withdraw all South Africa’s carefully considered proposals, including voting against the trade in lion bone and rhino horn”.
It argued that appointing Aucamp would constitute at least a perceived conflict of interest under the Public Service Commission Act and might even breach the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.
NSPCA steps in
The NSPCA this week wrote directly to Ramaphosa, urging consultation before any reshuffle.
“The DFFE is an exceptionally important department — one that carries significant international attention and responsibility,” said the organisation in a public statement.
It reminded the Presidency of the landmark 2020 judgment that obliges the government to consider animal welfare in all environmental decisions, the very ruling that set the path toward phasing out captive-lion breeding.
It warned that Aucamp was “linked to the industries of lion breeding and other captive-wildlife facilities and to the very organisation litigating against the DFFE concerning the setting of a lion-bone export quota”.
Any regression, it cautioned, would damage South Africa’s reputation at a time when foreign governments were watching the country’s stance on wildlife trafficking and sustainable use.
“Captive-lion breeding has drawn considerable concern internationally, including alarm over its potential links to illicit trade networks and reputational harm to South Africa,” said the NSPCA.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Lions-in-a-captive-breeding-facility-Blood-Lions-2.jpg "A lion in a captive breeding facility. (Photo: Blood Lions)")
A coalition including Blood Lions, Humane World for Animals South Africa, Voice4Lions and Animal Law Reform South Africa issued a joint statement condemning Steenhuisen’s move as “emanating not from the broad public interest, but from a narrow sector of organisations seeking to continue profiting from an extractivist model of wildlife consumption”.
Divisions within DA
The dispute has exposed rifts inside the DA. Only a year ago, the party’s own environment spokesperson, Andrew de Blocq, publicly endorsed George’s crackdown on canned-lion hunting and the lion-bone trade, calling them “industries facing serious ethical and regulatory issues” that had “led to strong criticism of South Africa internationally”.
Now, however, Steenhuisen’s replacement of George with Aucamp suggests a powerful counter-lobby within the party aligned with “sustainable-use” advocates who promote the commercial breeding and hunting of wildlife.
Adding fuel to conservationists’ suspicions, Aucamp and fellow DA MP Désirée van der Walt attended the 2025 annual general meeting of the Sustainable Use Coalition of South Africa, a group known for lobbying against restrictions on wildlife trade. On social media, Aucamp described it as “a privilege” to address the event.
George’s removal will reverberate far beyond domestic politics. At COP30 in Belém he is co-chairing the global Adaptation Committee, tasked with steering negotiations on climate resilience — an area in which South Africa has sought to assert leadership through its Just Energy Transition and coastal adaptation initiatives.
For George, the controversy underscores the peril of confronting entrenched interests.
“I’m doing my job without fear, favour or prejudice,” he reiterated from Brazil.
Supporters note that he implemented precisely what DA policy prescribes, including the closure of the captive-lion industry and rejection of rhino-horn exports. “If that costs him his job, it will say more about the party than about the minister,” remarked one senior conservation official who asked not to be named. DM