Rhino poachers should get the maximum sentence if found guilty, KwaZulu-Natal agriculture and environmental affairs MEC Meshack Radebe said.
"If the justice system does this, it will [send a] strong a message to poachers and would-be poachers that they [should] think twice before they act," Radebe said.
His call came after the arrest of five men alleged to have killed five rhino in the Hluhluwe area, northern KwaZulu-Natal, this month.
The men, aged between 20 and 64, were arrested on Saturday after police received a tip-off, Captain Thulani Zwane said.
Agriculture and environmental affairs spokesman Jeffrey Zikhali said a total of 33 rhino had been killed in the province this year and police had made 24 arrests.
"The crisis in South Africa is driven by well organised and well funded criminal networks, who strike after careful planning," Zikhali said.
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