Twenty Zambians Held in Malawi
By Staff Reporters
Fri 29 Nov. 2013, 11:00 CAT
TWENTY Zambians are currently being held in Malawi's Kasungu Prison after being convicted of encroaching in Kasungu National Park.
According to a statement issued by Chansa Kabwela who is First Secretary Press, the 20 nationals with eight others, all of chief Chanje's area in Chipata, were arrested last Sunday and charged with illegally settling in a game management area, illegally cutting trees and cultivating in a game management area, and illegally hunting game in a protected area.
They were then taken to the Kasungu First Grade Magistrates Court where they were prosecuted on Monday and found guilty of contravening the National Parks and Wildlife Act of Malawi. Of the 28, eight were given suspended sentences on account of old age and poor health while 20 were each fined MK45,000 (K675) in default three years imprisonment.
The 20 are yet to source money to pay for them to be released.
Zambia's High Commissioner to Malawi Charles Banda noted with sadness the predicament the Zambians nationals were in.
High Commissioner Banda appealed to traditional leaders in Chipata and well-wishers to help the Zambians with finances so that they could be released from prison.
High Commissioner Banda urged chief Chanje to look for alternative land in Zambia for his subjects so that they do not return to Kasungu National Park once they are released from prison.
The problem of encroachment in Kasungu National Park arose from the demarcation of the boundary between Zambia and Malawi and nationals of both countries have in the past been relocated from the park to other areas. In July this year, Zambian nationals of chief Mwasempangwe's area who were in the park were resettled successfully on the Zambian side.
Labels: CHANSA KABWELA, GAME PARKS, LAND RIGHTS, MALAWI
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Twenty Zambians Held in Malawi
By Staff Reporters
Fri 29 Nov. 2013, 11:00 CAT
TWENTY Zambians are currently being held in Malawi's Kasungu Prison after being convicted of encroaching in Kasungu National Park.
According to a statement issued by Chansa Kabwela who is First Secretary Press, the 20 nationals with eight others, all of chief Chanje's area in Chipata, were arrested last Sunday and charged with illegally settling in a game management area, illegally cutting trees and cultivating in a game management area, and illegally hunting game in a protected area.
They were then taken to the Kasungu First Grade Magistrates Court where they were prosecuted on Monday and found guilty of contravening the National Parks and Wildlife Act of Malawi. Of the 28, eight were given suspended sentences on account of old age and poor health while 20 were each fined MK45,000 (K675) in default three years imprisonment.
The 20 are yet to source money to pay for them to be released.
Zambia's High Commissioner to Malawi Charles Banda noted with sadness the predicament the Zambians nationals were in.
High Commissioner Banda appealed to traditional leaders in Chipata and well-wishers to help the Zambians with finances so that they could be released from prison.
High Commissioner Banda urged chief Chanje to look for alternative land in Zambia for his subjects so that they do not return to Kasungu National Park once they are released from prison.
The problem of encroachment in Kasungu National Park arose from the demarcation of the boundary between Zambia and Malawi and nationals of both countries have in the past been relocated from the park to other areas. In July this year, Zambian nationals of chief Mwasempangwe's area who were in the park were resettled successfully on the Zambian side.
Labels: GAME PARKS, LAND RIGHTS, MALAWI
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(NEWZIMBABWE) Game ranger to hang over murder
30/09/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
A GAME ranger was on Monday sentenced to death after shooting a man 10 times during a botched operation to arrest elephant poachers.
Trigger-happy Maxwell Bowa, 53, shot Lennon Nkosana, 29, as he fled from a kitchen hut which had been surrounded by a 10-man strong team of rangers from the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management and uniformed police officers.
Justice Lawrence Kamocha of the Bulawayo High Court, on circuit in Gweru, heard how the team of rangers and police officers went on patrol in the Simchembo area of Gokwe on June 12 last year trying to track down poachers and locate ivory.
The rangers had intelligence that a local man, Tanaka Nyoni, was a poacher and may have had some ivory hidden away, said Tafadzwa Mupariwa, prosecuting.
When the rangers and police failed to locate Nyoni, the court heard, they went to the Nkosana homestead where they allegedly tried to extract information about poachers by assaulting all those present, some hit with the butt of their guns.
The victim, said the prosecutor, bolted from the hut and Bowa pulled the trigger, shooting him at least 10 times as he fled.
After the shooting, the rangers and the officers left the scene. Bowa was only arrested after the victim's brothers who witnessed the killing filed a police report.
Justice Kamocha told Bowa, who had pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder, that he had shot an innocent man in cold blood, as he sentenced him to face the gallows.
Zimbabwe has not carried out any executions since 2005 when armed robbers and convicted murderers Edgar Masendeke and Stephen Chidhumo were hanged.
Labels: GAME PARKS, MURDER
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(THE SOUTH AFRICAN) ‘Poaching Wars’: Meet the men who risk their lives to protect rhinos
Rhino are being shot at a rate of more than two a day in South Africa, for the simple fact that rhino horn is valued at more per kilogram than gold. This ITV documentary goes to South Africa to meet the armed men employed to guard rhinos in the Kruger Park, as well as rhino owners who have resorted to unorthodox ways of protecting their animals, such as dehorning them or training elephants to track poachers.
By TheSouthAfrican.com on 14 August, 2013 4:31 pm in Entertainment, Featured, Film & TV, News
Tom Hardy elephant (Medium)
In Poaching Wars With Tom Hardy, a two-part ITV documentary starting on 22 August, BAFTA award-winning actor Tom Hardy (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) travels to South Africa, Botswana and Tanzania to find out why poaching has reached crisis levels and to see for himself what can be done to stop the killing. Having heard some appalling stories about the poaching industry, Tom is galvanised into action.
“All over Sub-Saharan Africa, the poaching crisis is spreading like a plague. Cameroon, Chad, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have all seen large-scale elephant slaughter and throughout the rest of Africa, rhino and elephant are being killed in alarming numbers. The everyday effect of the poaching business on African wildlife is one of horror and cruelty that brutalises both the animals and the humans involved,” Tom notes.
“Like most of us I have a love for Africa’s magnificent animals. As a result I find it hard to stomach the poaching crisis sweeping the continent and pushing these amazing animals to the edge of extinction. Without doubt the rhino and elephant are facing extinction well within our lifetime and the war on poaching is being lost. I’m making these documentaries because it’s something practical I can do to ask some questions that need to be asked.”
He starts his journey in South Africa, where 80 percent of the world’s rhino are found. With rhino poaching on the increase, they’re in big trouble – 553 animals have already been poached since January, almost as many as were shot in the whole of 2012 (at least 600).
The killing is happening on such a massive scale that rhino are being shot at a rate of more than two a day, for the simple fact that rhino horn is valued at more per kilogram than gold.
For 20 years Miles Lappeman has been trying to address the balance by breeding rhino on his huge estate but in November 2012, a team of poachers breached his security fences and shot eight of his 22 animals.
Miles shows Tom the body of one of his dead rhino, shot dead by poachers although they never managed to get her magnificent horn, so it proved a waste of life by everybody’s standards. She was killed by a single shot, clearly by an experienced professional, ‘a person who knows exactly what they’re doing, equivalent to Navy Seals and SAS operatives’, according to Miles. “They’re not poachers, they’re rhino assassins,” he says.
Tom visits the Kruger Park, where most of South Africa’s rhino are found and where the highest kill rate occurs. He meets Vincent Barkas who runs an anti-poaching unit of 300 men that provides protection for animals in private game reserves. Vincent says, “When the poacher comes in, you’ll have one guy who does the shooting that’s got the hunting rifle. You might have another chap there to cut and carry the horns. And your third and fourth persons might be in possession of a military assault rifle, which they will use to confront the guards.”
Vincent’s team are trained to use military assault rifles and he admits that as a private company, being responsible for 33 military weapons sends a shiver up his spine. “The guys make a huge sacrifice. They’ve got no social life. They don’t earn a lot of money. They’re putting their lives on the line… these guys are being trained to be killers. In a democratic country like South Africa, we’re taking 19, 20-year-old kids and teaching them to use semi-automatic rifles, and I’m a private individual. I don’t represent the government. That tells me something’s out of control.”
Tom joins Vincent and his men deep in the bush for an anti-poaching training session, attempting to find three men in the middle of 900 hectares of veld. He also spends time with Tumi, one of Vincent’s most trusted men, who introduces Tom to his family and admits in some communities the poachers are considered heroes.
Tumi explains that he is under pressure to join the poachers, even by a government official. “He told me, I want a rhino horn, and if I can get it for him, he was gonna give me 500,000. I was tempted, but I started trying to show him my negatives, telling him, ‘Hey, I’m scared.’ But I can’t do it because they gonna catch me. They will know it’s me. Where will I put that money? I can’t take it to the bank. He says, ‘No, don’t worry. I’ll make you a contract. Prove it. You sign it. I get the money in your account. I’ll do that, easy. One time. Chop, chop.’”
When Tumi refused, the man threatened to kill everyone in his street, including his family, if he told anyone. As the father of a 14-month old girl, Tumi doesn’t want to get involved.
Next, Tom’s trek takes him to Johannesburg to see some alarming evidence of the international criminal gangs involved in poaching. The city is the major conduit for smuggled rhino horn on its way to South East Asia and Tom meets Julian Rademeyer, an award-winning journalist who has spent three years immersed in the world of the ivory trade. Tom learns about the horns being sold illegally on the black market in incredibly sophisticated, well-run operations, often believed to fund larger scale activity.
Julian explains, “If you look at the example of Somalia, you’ve seen al-Shabab using ivory to fund their operations. We’ve seen instances in Chad, for example, where armed militia men mow down elephants. The wildlife trade is an incredibly lucrative business, and it’s a great way to fund all of those activities… These are incredibly sophisticated, well run operations. You have untouchable kingpins in places like Vietnam and Laos. You’re talking about incredibly dangerous people who are prepared to kill and die for this prize.”
Tom also meets John Hume who has a radical solution to the poaching crisis and believes that dehorning a rhino is the only way to save it from poachers. John is the largest rhino owner in the world and claims he is driven to repopulate the species. All 850 of his rhino have been dehorned.
Another man fighting back is Sean Hensman, who is training elephants to track poachers, so that the hunted become the hunter. Sean’s elephants patrol his land using their phenomenal sense of smell to find poachers over huge spaces. The pads on their feet are so soft it makes them very difficult to be heard. Tom is keen to find out more but before agreeing to hide in the bush to put the elephant’s searching skills to the test, where he meets an elephant called Toshura up close and is completely overwhelmed by the experience, having never been that close to an elephant before.
Poaching Wars airs on ITV on Thursday 22 August from 9pm – 10pm.
Labels: GAME PARKS, POACHING, WILDLIFE
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Govt cautious on sanctioning economic projects - Simuusa
By Kabanda Chulu
Mon 12 Aug. 2013, 14:00 CAT
ENVIRONMENT minister Wylbur Simuusa says the government is taking a cautious approach to sanctioning economic projects that are located within game management areas.
And Simuusa has denied assertions by Zambezi Resources chief executive officer Frank Vanspeybroeck that senior ministers in the Zambian government were surprised at the decision by ZEMA to reject the construction of a copper mining project in the Lower Zambezi National Park.
Confirming receipt of the appeal lodged by Zambezi Resources, whose US$494 million Kangaluwi Copper project has been rejected by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA), Simuusa said Zambians must decide what is good for the country.
"I have received the appeal from the developers of the Kangaluwi project and we shall make a final decision over the matter within this month but I want to assure the nation that the decision to be taken will be in the interest of the country," Simuusa said in an interview in Lusaka. "Also the people should take a keen interest in matters of this nature, especially that most of Zambia's oil and gas reserves are found in game management areas. So how do we handle these issues? Anyway, the decision that we shall come up with will be a landmark one since we have to weigh the advantages of having an economic project against environmental protection, human and wildlife."
He also questioned the motive by officials at the Ministry of Mines that sanctioned exploration activities at the Kangaluwi project.
"In the first place, why were licences given? So, it seems the whole process has not been right from the beginning and this is why we shall get to the bottom of the issue and come up with a decision to safeguard the interests of the country," said Simuusa. "And it is not true that ministers are surprised at the decision; maybe there are others but I am not involved and this is why I want to understand the matter and make the right decision."
Following the rejection of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) submitted to ZEMA, Zambezi Resources, the developers of the Kangaluwi project, through Vanspeybroeck, announced to shareholders in a posting to the Australian Stock Exchange that the company was currently taking steps to seek a review of the ZEMA decision as provided for in the environmental management Act 2011.
"The review is considered by the Minister of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection. Senior ministers in the Zambian government, including the Minister for Mines, Energy and Water Development remain fully supportive of the project and have been surprised at the decision of ZEMA," Vanspeybroeck stated.
"The newly elected Zambian government has gone to great lengths to convince the overseas investment community that Zambia is a safe place to invest and is encouraging of such investment in particular in the mining and resources sector."
Nevertheless, environmental activists have challenged Simuusa not to consider overturning the decision made by ZEMA to reject construction of a copper mining project in the Lower Zambezi National Park.
In the event of massive objections to the findings of an Environmental Impact Statement and ZEMA turns down construction of a project, the Minister has powers to allow the project.
For example, the MMD regime allowed the Chinese to begin mining at Ichimpe forests in Kitwe without following correct procedures.
Labels: ENVIRONMENT, GAME PARKS, WYLBUR SIMUUSA
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There’s more to Ngezi than just platinum
Friday, 11 May 2012 00:00
Isdore Guvamombe Tourism Matrix
HIPPOS flop together, male rivalry heating up in bloody territorial fights and the vanquished male is forced to lurk hapless on the open plain until it gathers sufficient confidence to mount another challenge. Squadrons of banded mongoose dart between the acacias, shaggy waterbuck wonders on the marshy dam banks, while baboons and monkeys obviously used to human visitors, lackadaisically move on, as if nothing is happening.
Contrasting with the intimacy of the grassy savanna forest and its expansive view eastward is a seething dam, whose wall has a fantastic waterfall during the rainy season. From the lodges, the gushing water provides an overnight symphony that accompanies the visitor into memorable deep slumber.
But prepare for intermittent sing-along from hippos who seem to be gifted more in discord than in melody, all night long.
Rolling grassy hills enclose the tranquil beauty of Ngezi Dam, each one coloured green or brown, the epitome of the passer-by Great Dyke Range, Zimbabwe’s ceremonial nerve centre of minerals and subsequent mining activities.
In between the rock outcrops are flat patches of savanna land along the dam and they define 12 campsites for Ngezi Recreational Park.
With self-catering lodges run by National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, the recreational park in the heart of Mhondoro, is the place where those who love nature and want to enjoy a quite weekend, away from the hullabaloo of city life can enjoy a weekend outing.
One can simply choose camping along the dam or occupying the self-catering lodges.
Being just a spitting distance from the Ngezi Platinum Mine, the park has benefited from a good quality tarred road that branches off Harare-Bulawayo Road at Halfway roundabout for 77km, before turning into a well-maintained dirt road a mere 5km to entrance of the recreational park.
In short, any vehicle can get to Ngezi, all year round. At the entrance, well-groomed rangers welcome the visitor and the directions to the lodge are well marked.
Built on a granite outcrop superimposing itself against the dam spillway are the main offices, where the road branches to the lodges, again a spitting distance from the gushing waters.
At sunrise, it is marvel to watch a rainbow insult the rising waters from the ephemeral plunge pool and fish eagles taking characteristic plunges into the water to catch fish for breakfast.
The mid-morning is characterised by a cool and soothing landward breeze that makes one to continue wander along the dam’s shore.
It is certainly not a waste of time to try a weekend outing at Ngezi Recreational Park.
Labels: GAME PARKS, PLATINUM
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Goverment to act on Lusaka National Park encroachment
By Moses Kuwema
Thu 12 Apr. 2012, 13:27 CAT
FOREIGN affairs and tourism minister Given Lubinda says there is heavy encroachment on the land around the Lusaka National Park. In an interview, Lubinda said his ministry was discussing with the Ministry of Lands to try and resolve the matter.
"The establishment of the Lusaka park is ongoing. We are in dialogue with the Ministry of Lands because there is quite some heavy encroachment activities taking place in the land around the national park. I would hate to come up with a park in an area where there is unplanned developments because those two don't go together," he said.
"If you want to have a park that will be visited by people, it must be in an area where there is planned development. So I am discussing currently with the minister of lands to see how we should resolve that problem before we invest any further resources in the park and I am optimistic that my colleague, the minister responsible for land, will pay attention to the plight of the Ministry of Tourism, particularly ZAWA Zambia Wildlife Authority in coming up with a national park."
Lubinda said as soon as the issue of encroachment is settled, his ministry would get artistic designers who would provide the plan for the park.
"I don't want to have a park which is just a sanctuary of game. I want to have a park that is artistic, where people can go to do many other things besides game. I want a place where children can go and swim. I want a place where parents can go and relax. I also want a place that will have at least some facilities for people to stay. So I need an artistic vision of the whole place," he said.
Lubinda said once they were done with the artistic works, they would invite potential developers to bid for the works.
"I want that park to be run as a PPP Public Private Partnership, involving the public but also private stakeholders. So I have quite an ambitious programme and I think we will be rolling it out as we go along and I don't think it should take me more than a year before we commission everything," said Lubinda.
Labels: GAME PARKS, GIVEN LUBINDA, PPPs, ZAWA
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Trump sons' Zimbabwe hunt investigated
Trophy ... Donald Trump Jnr poses next to a buffalo he had just shot on Zimbabwe hunt
25/03/2012 00:00:00
by Reagan Mashavave I AFP
A CONSERVATION group on Friday said it was investigating whether a hunting trip to Zimbabwe by US property magnate Donald Trump's sons was legal, after photos of their trophies sparked outrage online.
Trump's sons Donald Junior and Eric made a hunting expedition in Zimbabwe in August 2010. Their pictures went viral on social media this month, showing them posing next to carcasses of a leopard, an elephant, a crocodile and an array of other animals.
The images drew condemnation on Facebook and Twitter, where their hunting trip was slammed as unethical. Donald Trump Jr has insisted on Twitter that he did nothing wrong.
Johnny Rodriguez, chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, told AFP that most professional hunt guides register with his organisation or with the government-run Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.
But he said his organisation does not have a record of the Trump brothers' hunting trip.
"We have people on the ground investigating. We want to find out if the hunting was ethical," he said.
"There is a lot of corruption and unethical conduct going on in the safaris. We want to find the truth and where the money generated from the hunting went to.
"We have been told that the Trump brothers were saying they gave game meat to locals who were starving, that's an insult to local people.
"These people are wealthy. If they wanted to help the people of Zimbabwe, why didn't they build schools or something like that, than to say that they gave meat to starving people. The area they are said to have hunted is Matetsi and there are no people who live there."
The trip was organised by Pretoria-based Hunting Legends International, which specialises in big game hunts for the wealthy.
The company has insisted that the hunt near the world-famous Victoria Falls was completely legal, and has kept pictures of the Trumps with their kills on its website.
"The entire hunt was done strictly according to the laws of the Department of Nature Conservation in Zimbabwe and, as is custom in these government-controlled areas, a staff member of the department escorted the hunt at all times," it said in a statement on its website.
"The hunt was entirely legal and ethically conducted as prescribed by the industry norms and regulations," it said. "None of the animals hunted were on the endangered species list and are plentiful in the area the hunt was conducted on."
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But the outrage over the hunting trip has already cost Donald Trump one advertiser from his US reality television show "The Apprentice", according to US media.
The pictures show Donald Junior holding a knife and a severed elephant tail, and sitting with a rifle next to a slain Cape buffalo. The brothers are also seen holding a leopard carcass, and standing next to a crocodile hanging from a tree.
"Donald Trump Jr. your're loser, ditto head. i'm a hunter. i hunt for meat, not horns. you can't eat horns," read one Twitter post.
"Men who hunt are not men," read another.
"Someone needs to stop these fools, maybe even hunt them," another said.
Donald Trump Jr has insisted the trip was legitimate.
"In the area I was in, the the wildlife board wanted to decrease the numbers for the benefit of the herd. Like liberal deer limits," he tweeted. "I am also not going to apologize because some eco nuts want me 2."
Labels: ENVIRONMENT, GAME PARKS, WILDLIFE
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Trump sons' grizzly Zimbabwe game hunt
Ear to ear ... Don Trump grins as he poses next to a dead buffalo shot on Zimbabwe hunt
13/03/2012 00:00:00
by Meghan Keneally I Daily Mail
GRIZZLY photos have surfaced of Donald Trump's millionaire sons smiling broadly next to the dead carcasses of wild animals that they shot while on a big game hunt in Zimbabwe.
Though the two Americans – Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump – deny any wrong-doing and proudly argue that they are hunters, many animal rights advocates are taking jabs at the pair.
In one of the photos, 34-year-old Don holds the sawed off tail of an elephant with his left hand while firmly gripping the knife that likely cut it with his right hand.
Another particularly jarring photo shows the brothers standing beside a 12'8" crocodile hanging from a noose off a tree.
The pictures were posted on the website for the company that ran the hunting trip to the Matetsi area near Victoria Falls.
Don denied that he leaked the photos over Twitter: “Not a PR move I didn't give the pics but I have no shame about them either. I HUNT & EAT game.”
“I AM A HUNTER I don't hide from that,” he said to another critic on Twitter.
The company, called Hunting Legends, detailed the brother's trip and said that it was not the first time that the Manhattan real estate moguls arranged a trip with them.
Though the pricing for the trip is not publicly available, it was certainly a costly endeavour.
The 2012 trophy fees for each of the animals they shot, and for the Kudu they paid at least $2,795.00 and another $1,997.00 for the Waterbuck they were pictured with.
“The Trumps soon showed their metal and it was evident from the word go that these two amazing young men are everything but the ‘city slickers’ you would expect!” the Hunting Legends site reads.
“They meant business from the outset of the hunt.”
The tour guide went on to say that they had “the precision of a true marksman”.
Don has been diligent about responding to angry comments on Twitter, and argued that their actions were justified because the meat was used to feed hungry villagers.
“I can assure you it was not wasteful the villagers were so happy for the meat which they don't often get to eat. Very grateful,” he responded to one Twitter user.
Their father does not share the views of his sons, and the elder Donald told the TMZ website: “My sons love hunting. They're hunters and they've become good at it. I am not a believer in hunting and I'm surprised they like it.
“I know that anything they did was 100% OK in terms of the hunting community.”
No regrets ... Eric and Don Trump with a lifeless leopard shot on Zimbabwe safari
Well suited ... Billionaire property tycoon Donald Trump (left) with children Eric, Ivanka and Don
Labels: GAME PARKS, WILDLIFE
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Fear of anthrax in Makuti
Saturday, 05 November 2011 22:36
By Tafadzwa Chiremba recently in MAKUTI
MORE than 40 animals in game parks along the Zambezi Valley have died over the past two months following a suspected anthrax outbreak that has also affected Zambia where about 230 people reportedly contracted the disease.
Thirty-three hippopotamuses, eight lions, two buffaloes, impalas and birds were found dead on the Zimbabwean side after the flooding Zambezi River subsided. The Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of Zimbabwe has since dispatched samples to the University of Zimbabwe Veterinary Services Department and South Africa for tests.
The test results could not be obtained by last week. The director-general of the authority, Mr Vitalis Chadenga, said preliminary indications showed that anthrax could be responsible for the deaths.
“Indications are that the animals died of anthrax. We are working with the University of Zimbabwe Veterinary Services Department in conducting tests,” he said.
Rangers discovered the first carcasses in September. More were later found along the valley where they are suspected to have died unnoticed.
Initially, reports suggested poachers were poisoning drinking pans in order to get elephant tusks. However, the giant mammals that died were not dismembered.
When The Sunday Mail visited Hambakwe Forest near Makuti, about 77km from Kariba, last week, elephant carcasses were strewn all over.
Several vultures that had fed on the contaminated flesh lay next to them. Most of the hippos were found dead in the Zambezi River.
Mr Chadenga said the deaths showed distinct traces of the deadly anthrax disease.
“The pattern of deaths is very much suggestive of anthrax bacterial mortality,” he said.
“Mortality appeared to have followed soon after floods in the Zambezi River subsided. Laboratory tests are under way in this country and in South Africa.”
Last month, reports from Zambia said more than 230 suspected cases were detected in humans. All the patients either ate or touched diseased hippo meat.
The source of the outbreak was believed to be a population of hippos in the Luangwa River where 62 animals died after showing signs of bacillus anthracis infection.
Laboratory results were positive.
The authorities promptly cordoned off Chama district where the cases were reported.
Apart from confiscating and destroying the hippo meat and carcasses, they also increased surveillance and community education.
Anthrax is a deadly disease that is caused by a bacterium known as bacillus anthracis.
It usually infects wild and domesticated herbivorous mammals that ingest or inhale dormant endospores formed from the bacterium.
Carnivores living in the same environment may contract the disease by consuming infected animals. Diseased animals can also spread anthrax to humans through direct contact. Some forms of the disease respond to antibiotic treatment, according to health experts.
Labels: CATTLE DISEASE, GAME PARKS, ZAMBEZI, ZAWA
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Wildlife-based land reform way to go
Thursday, 11 August 2011 02:00
By Johnson Siamachira
IN some areas of Zimbabwe, the number of wild animals is growing, not as a consequence of conservation but of utilisation. Zimbabwe's game and nature reserves cover 13 percent of the country's total surface area. Wildlife is also extensively managed on twice as much land on private farms, cattle ranches and the traditional communal lands belonging to the indigenous people.
Underlying all this is a nature conservation policy, which can be called game or wildlife farming. The seeds for this were sown 37 years ago by an amendment to the wildlife legislation.
"Prior to this, wildlife belonged to the state and had no value for the landowner. Therefore, it was not looked after and a lot of wildlife was wiped out in favour of domestic stock. All this changed in 1975. The decision was one of the most important moves in southern Africa," says Charles Jonga, the director of the Community Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources. Once the people in the countryside started to benefit from the wild animals, they no longer saw them as a nuisance but as a source of livelihood, and so began to take care of them," says the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of Zimbabwe.
Game farming has had a dramatic impact on the environment. The wild animals are returning to areas from which they were at one time expelled. Tough but easy to handle, farming wild animals is not a new idea. What is interesting is its scale.
One of the earliest to experiment in the country was Norman Travers, who owns the Imire Game Ranch near Harare. He brought a few animals to his farm in 1972 on an experimental basis and fenced off an area to see what would happen. That is how it all began. Now there are a thousands of animals on his farm.
In principle, keeping cattle, sheep or wild animals is all the same, but of course, you have to know how to handle them. Compared to cattle, wildlife has a lot of advantages, such as a built-in tolerance to drought, tsetse flies and ticks.
Game farms and ranches are also very important to the conservation of endangered animals.
"Cattle were brought to Africa from outside and wild animals were forced off farms because domestic animals were easily manageable. But now people have seen that wildlife can use the vegetation much better than the cattle. So why shouldn't we utilise our own wild animals?" said Jonga.
"The game farmer has a vertical acre instead of a horizontal one - a wide variety of animals from the giraffe eating leaves off the tops of trees to the warthog digging roots in the ground," he adds.
There are a number of game farms and ranches in Zimbabwe. They range in size from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of hectares.
Apart from farms and ranches, a large area is also taken up by communal lands belonging to the indigenous people. The nature-oriented use of such lands is extremely important from the conservation perspective.
The Campfire programme was launched on communal lands in 1989 which promotes the use of local natural resources, such as wild animals, as an economically sound and sustainable land use option. The villagers benefit from their conservation efforts either directly in the form of meat, or indirectly by eco-tourism incomes.
The Parks and Wildlife Management Authority defines annual game hunting quotas and the villages and districts themselves decide how to make use of these. The hunters also provide employment.
"One hunter may directly or indirectly provide work for 50 people: guides, trackers, camp builders, bearers and cooks," explains a consultant with a private constancy hunting firm.
The money gathered is often channelled into the construction of schools, hospitals and grinding mills. But, despite all this, the rural communities say they have not yet benefited from the wildlife-based land reform programme. Now, there are concerted efforts for the communities to push for an effective stake to benefit from the programme. However, this has been meeting stiff resistance from conservancy owners
A wildlife expert in Zimbabwe has said the government's push to implement the wildlife-based land reform will impact negatively on tourism.
John Rodrigues, chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, says wildlife is the hallmark of tourism in Zimbabwe and the programme would disturb tourism through poaching of wildlife.
Parks and Wildlife Management Authority director-general Vitalis Chadenga maintains:
"Implementation of Wildlife-Based Land Reform remained one of the unfinished business of the country's land reform programme. The policy has been on our shelves for more than five years and for a variety of reasons, its implementation had remained elusive.
"Thirty-nine indigenous people have been allocated leases in Masvingo, 21 in the Midlands, and three in the Matabeleland region. The authority's role is confined to regulation and support for the private wildlife industry," he said.
He added: "Government remains committed to having wildlife managed by land-owners themselves to promote commercial production and services. However, there is also the expectation that other players must be allowed on board."
Save Valley Conservancy representative David Goosen welcomes this initiative.
"The Save Valley Conservancy is pleased to be part of the process of furthering the interests of conservation and finding a way forward for genuine indigenous investor participation in the wildlife industry. The Save Valley Conservancy has always been proactive in including its surrounding communities in the benefits of conservation, which will set new standards of confidence for all and safeguard the wildlife heritage of Zimbabwe for future generations," he said.
The wildlife-based land reform programme provides the following key linkages with the Campfire programme:
* Wildlife production will be maintained where it is the most appropriate land use option through transfer of leases or allocation of shares.
* Wildlife management responsibility and authority will be devolved at the most appropriate level.
* Recognition of the importance of authority, responsibility and incentives in fostering viable wildlife production systems.
In a recent presentation to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Natural Resources, Environment and Tourism on the Wildlife-Based land Reform Policy Jonga said: "The policy provides for partnerships between the public, private and community sectors. In the context of the wildlife industry, a partnership is a business activity undertaken between the owner of land or resource, and other business partners.
"Such partnerships are therefore not just a product of mutual agreement between two or more parties, but also an appropriate mechanism to facilitate the sharing of costs and benefits, sharing of risk, sharing of experience, and transfer of learning.''
He also said: "With appropriate support, conservancies, representing large and small operators, can offer viable options for partnerships and greater involvement of local people."
The local-authorities membership-based organisation, Campfire Association, in partnership with Bio-Hub Trust, a local consortium of environmental agencies, is currently rolling out a feasibility study on communal game ranching. The assumption is that the future of wildlife and wildlife based activities is tied up with greater involvement of local communities who share their space and life with this resource.
"Demonstrating the viability of alternative wildlife management systems becomes an urgent issue for rural development and wildlife conservation with spill-over effects to forests,'' says Jonga.
"But for the potential to be realised, there is a need to address the institutional framework through which new settlers do operate, and more importantly how they (the settlers) must adapt to wildlife compatible income generation as viable options.''
The study will also lead to the selection of pilot sites and communities to promote game ranching and any related wildlife enterprise.
However, there is an urgent need for a transparent understanding of the income chain in conservancies, and who benefits by how much. Without such transparency the new joint ventures may be one-sided, and there is also the possibility of ‘elite capture' and corruption among communities themselves.
* siamachiraj@yahoo.co.uk
Labels: GAME PARKS, LAND REFORM, WILDLIFE
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REVEALING DARK SECRETS. . .as game rangers use unorthodox means to protect rhinos
Saturday, 23 April 2011 22:25 Environment & Tourism
SOME wildlife conservancy security personnel in the Lowveld are said to be using unorthodox means to protect rhinos.
They allegedly lure and ambush “innocent” people, some of whom have been killed after being passed off as poachers. Some survivors of the alleged shady activities say the agents use the “kills” and arrests to claim funds from an international non-governmental organisation that fundraises for rhino conservation. The Sunday Mail tracked down a field intelligence officer at one of the Save conservancies and below is his account.
I am simply giving out accounts of some of the encounters I have had as a field intelligence officer.
An international non-governmental organisation provides funds to conservancies for rhino conservation activities.
The money is disbursed in proportion to the number of poachers arrested or killed.
Some of the funds are disbursed directly as an incentive to the security officers and it is this development that has led to several “innocent” people being lured and killed or arrested as poachers.
The more poachers you arrest or shoot dead, the more money you get from the organisation.
In April 2010, a plan was hatched by senior security personnel at our conservancy to lure Masvingo businessman Innocent Mudzviti with information that a game ranger had in his possession a rhino horn worth US$35 000.
Mudzviti teamed up with two soldiers from 4 Brigade in Masvingo, a junior officer from the Criminal Investigation Department and another Masvingo businessman named Nyoni.
The team of seven, who had US$35 000 cash on them, together with the security officer, drove an Isuzu KB to the conservancy where they were told they would meet the game ranger with the supposed rhino horn.
They parked their vehicle along the Chiredzi-Chisumbanje highway, about three kilometres from the main gate. Mudzviti, the two soldiers, and the security officer, who had lured them, entered the conservancy to negotiate with the said game warden to release the purported rhino horn while Nyoni, the CID officer and another man kept guard in the car.
Mudzviti and the soldiers were led into an ambush. The soldiers were shot and killed on the spot while Mudzviti escaped but was later captured.
Nyoni and the other people who were waiting with him in the car were immediately arrested.
It was later reported to the police that the soldiers were poachers who were shot during contact while Nyoni and others were reported to have been inside the conversancy when they were clearly outside.
It would have been far more convincing to have arrested Mudzviti and company in the act of poaching.
The question remains, what is poaching? Is being lured to a rhino horn regarded as poaching?
There are several other similar incidents.-The Sunday Mail
THE RESPONSE
Mr Mike Ball is the chief security officer of Malilangwe Conservancy Trust. The following is his response to some of the allegations raised by the field intelligence officer.
THE Save Conservancies have been hit by numerous rhino poaching syndicates and we have had to take stern measures in retaliation.
I know most conservancies face similar challenges with poachers as we do. For us at Malilangwe, we fight bruising battles with poachers and we are aware of the smear campaigns our detractors have embarked on.
We know that those whose poaching efforts we have thwarted are working 24 hours to try and discredit us.
We have busted several local and cross-border poaching syndicates and these have gone all out on a smear campaign. We work with the ZRP and we provide resources when they are needed as we try to protect rhinos from these daring poachers.
Some of our detractors have even alleged racism at Malilangwe, but we will not be distracted.
Surprising enough, despite these allegations of racism on Malilangwe’s part, everybody in this industry wants to work for Malilangwe where conditions of service are clearly better than anywhere else.
People who claim to have been lured were first class rhino poachers who would have been arrested and then try to defend themselves.-The Sunday Mail
Labels: GAME PARKS, MURDER, WILDLIFE, WORLD WILDLIFE FUND
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Evershed: Victim of the wild, media hero
By: Malachia Zvinaiye Mutandiro
Posted: Tuesday, November 9, 2010 8:57 pm
THE tragic death of Peter Evershed, 59, mauled by a pride of five lions in the Mana Pools National Park whilst taking a shower under a tree last week made for very sad reading.
Tragedies like this are not unusual and are quite common in Africa’s national parks and the isolated hamlets that fringe some of these parks, but Peter’s very unfortunate demise left a sour taste in my mouth. To those not familiar with the story, the following is what happened in the early evening of Thursday November 4th.
On the BBC, The Guardian (UK), and the dozen other news sites that ran the story, the headline ‘’Man Killed by Lions Whilst Taking Shower” seemed straight forward enough: tourist takes a shower at dusk to cool off after a hot day on safari. Check. Lions, wraith-like, slink up and attack tourist. Check. Tour guide valiantly rushes to rescue tourist. Check. Tourist dies of inflicted wounds. Check. A tragic accident. Check, er? NO!
This wasn’t a random predator attack, because, according to inferences on some online news sites, conservation agencies and a Mr Rodrigues of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, the anemic state of the Zimbabwean economy coupled with increased poaching activity has miffed wild animals in national parks and they consequently have become more treacherous and unpredictable. As if they were anything else but!
In typically cynical fashion, politics and the economy are always inserted as a footnote to any subject, however random, concerning Zimbabwe.
Subtle, pernicious little reminders of Zimbabwe’s supposed economic coda: starving villagers are poaching animals to possible extinction run the euphemistic undertones. This is all crafted from a plexus that coordinates with deadly efficiency, to churn out column inches that wound and sully Zimbabwe’s reputation at every possible opportunity.
I only premise here, but context and tone in the report of Peter’s death is stained with a patina of inherent prejudice. An ingrained superiority complex that frequently becomes apparent when certain stories fit stereotypical templates. In such territory, editors can condescend and patronize at will because any misconceptions raised are invariably never challenged or disputed.
Such infuriatingly lazy story telling – echoes whose timbre rings with a vacuous and worn narrative, are all too common every time Africa and especially Zimbabwe is the subject.
I am befuddled by the bizarre claims made by Mr Johnny Rodrigues.
In a flourish, he laments the inclusive Government: "We don't have the tourists – if we had the tourists it would actually work."
He then rails against poachers encroaching into the Mana Pools area and them being the cause of a spate of attacks, but denies claims from locals that hunters use bait to lure lions into more tractable terrain for easier shooting.
Nobody questioned the veracity of Mr Rodrigues’ accusations or bothered to interview local villagers to provide balance to these allegations.
Extremely wealthy hunters trek into the Mana Pools from all over the world with their high powered NITRO 700 express rifles to stalk and bag big game specimens. Perhaps they too should shoulder some blame for harassing the animals.
As always in such matters, opinion is based on flawed assumptions and prejudice. An unwillingness to understand and appreciate the condition of the other, but let us not forget that the animals of Mana Pools survived relatively unscathed from an intense war of liberation: the Zambezi escarpment was an operational area where freedom fighters and displaced bands of refugees hunted and killed whatever food was available.
Admittedly, poaching is a perennial problem in all of Africa’s game parks, but is not unique to Zimbabwe.
The reasons are complex, but are never fully explored because it is mostly poor disenfranchised villagers that poach.
Poaching was not a contributory factor in Mr Evershed’s tragic death. That pride of lions would have attacked Mr Evershed whether he was taking his shower in Masai Mara, Kruger or the Serengeti national parks. He was exposed at a time when lions are active. At the intersection where instinct meets with opportunity, lions usually resort to type. It is as simple as.
If we continue to lower the boundaries of respect and ignore wild etiquette in pursuit of ‘intimacy with nature’, nature will certainly get intimate with us.
Mr Rodrigues is overreacting, in my opinion – to a tragedy which, given the known risks of unfenced camps in lion country, would have occurred sooner or later anyway. He also makes a cursory reference to eight villagers also killed by a pride of lions earlier this year, in the space of two months somewhere downriver. Wow! Eight individuals attacked and killed, but none of the news sites reported those deaths.
The unfortunate villagers remain nameless, their tragedy just a passing flutter, a fleeting interlude in the greater tragedy of Peter Evershed, whose own death inadvertently brought their fate into our consciousness.
We shall never know their story because nobody really cared enough to document their fate: they were just eight villagers killed by a pride of lions. Yet we know in intimate detail the ennobled and charitable characters of the other unfortunate victims of animal attacks. South African business executive Don Hornsby killed by an elephant in Matusadona last month; Steve Kok was also attacked and killed by a buffalo; and Geoff Blythe was attacked and severely wounded by a female elephant in Kariba.
Each individual story warranted an article in the news and the obvious similarities of the named victims is something I’ll leave for you to work out.
Seductive Killers
Lions by their very nature, are ruthlessly efficient killers, willing scavengers too when opportunity allows. Millions of years of evolution have created the perfect apex predator – that tawny practitioner of savagery who dispenses merciless death with tooth and claw.
The full throttle, blood-curdling roar of a full grown male lion reverberating from the ground in the dead of the African night, is a conjurer to portals that bring to life dreadful imaginations.
Deathly screams that pierce the eerie silence in the village, gasping guttural rasps of a torn throat, ribbons of shredded flesh that dangle from stringy sinew: skeins of glistening entrails that thicken the air with a sweet pungent stench, the crunch of vertebrae and spouting warm scarlet of ebbing life.
Such horror is as real to Tanzanian villagers in Songea cowering in flimsy mud and wattle abodes before dawn as it is to Mozambican refugees, under the shimmer of a ghostly moon, creeping along the barbed strands of electric fence that transects a grove of acacias on the northern-most border of the Kruger national park. Yet, it is also seductively alluring to the western financial analyst and the local property developer who will pay top money to sleep, a canvas-membrane away from the vagaries of potential killers.
This intimate wilderness experience offered by tour operators at the safari camps carries a level of risk; albeit negligible, it is still a risk.
One rule is that you should never unnecessarily expose yourself on foot, especially at sundown in lion habitat. Scientific knowledge, to within reasonable accuracy of course, tells us that although possessed of an instinctive fear of man, lions at night are in their element, darkness emboldens them and aberrant behavior on the odd occasion, is not unusual. Exposed humans in the wrong place at the wrong time are killed and sometimes eaten!
A Most Plausible Reason
To some, the call of the wild is a mysterious yet irresistible urge. Each and every one of us retains a smidgeon of that inert, residual instinct that longs to re-connect with our basest fears – to experience the knot in the pit of one’s belly triggered by one’s vulnerability when the wolf howls at the moon or when the lion roars.
For me it only takes the caterwaul of a fox in south London and I instinctively fumble in the dark for assurance towards the warmth of my wife. These fears are primal, yet with an irresistible pull that is heightened every time the black velvet night weighs down and then hungrily devours each sunset.
The wealthy usually act on that urge by going off on safari. Others, like the one hundred Tanzanians who are eaten by lions each year have no choice but to co-exist with these horrors. The crouching lioness stalking that human being is not a willful agent of malevolent pestilence.
She is responding to triggers in her constitution that demand her hunger pangs are sated at her point of need. She is a huntress; the human being in front of her represents so many kilograms of protein in the biomass and therefore is prey, easy prey. Nature must oblige!
Successful propagation of her species is only assured if the crouching lioness kills the prey in the sights of her baleful glare – humans are not granted immunity by nature at such unguarded moments. Neither socio-economic status nor race shall matter now. She launches herself in an instant, a blur of golden hue, claws unsheathed to administer a gruesome conclusion to one life so her pride can eat.
Sometimes there will be the wretched, desperate unearthly screams of impending doom; but sometimes too, mercifully, death is too swift and is instant at the snap of vertebrae. Nature has taken its course, whether it's Peter Evershed showering under a tree on that fateful evening at Chitake springs camp or the nameless village woman who, weighed down by a bundle of firewood scurrying home to prepare the family evening meal near Sapi.
The aftermath of such horrifying tragedies is when specious arguments, recrimination and prejudice flare up. Some proclaim to love Africa and her wild creatures, but to profess love for Africa you must also love her people; it cannot be one and not the other.
The life of a poor villager extirpated in the jaws of a lion must surely carry the same currency, weight and value as the life of a rich businessman succumbing to the same fate.
Sadly, the most powerful of purveyors and disseminators of news, define humanity in tiers of importance based on colour and wealth.
Yes, poaching has a profound and indelible effect on our fauna; the men who encroach into parks to set snares, more often than not do so to feed hungry families.
‘’Villagers are poaching and robbing lions of their food’’, bray the conservationists. My claim is that economic sanctions are robbing villagers of alternative opportunities to obtain food and hence, the villagers are forced to poach in the national parks: it’s a self-perpetuating truth isn’t it, the law of cause and effect but hey, I now digress.
______________________
Malachia Zvinaiye Mutandiro writes from the United Kingdom. He can be contacted via: zvinaiye *** gmail.com
Labels: GAME PARKS, RACISM
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Conservancies - Islands of Colonial Land Tenure
Tichaona Zindoga
6 October 2010
Harare — Someone once said that an unimplemented plan is as good - or bad - as no plan at all.
If this does not sound a little ruthless or uncompromising, it surely is one philosophy that helps eliminate some absurdities of life that have tended to dog societies and governments.
It is not unusual to hear of some "brilliant" plans and blueprints that are "gathering dust" in some Government office or another, or those that have been implemented somewhere else with success.
And as fate would have it, the problems that these supposed "brilliant" pieces of work should address lie festering, all too ready for a sick implosion.
Participants at a recent workshop on the Wildlife-based Land Reform Policy, which Government adopted in 2000 as part of the wider historic land reform programme were mortified when the Director General of the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority revealed that the reform had failed to take off.
Parks, under the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management, is tasked with implementing the policy of wildlife-based land reform.
It will be interesting to put into context Director General Vitalis Chadenga's shocking revelation.
He had begun with spelling out the background against which wildlife-based land reform lay, noting that the land reform programme in 2000 tended to concentrate on resettlement biased on crop and livestock production at the expense of wildlife production.
Under the programme, conservancies could not be allocated for resettlement purposes, elongating wildlife production as a preserve of a white minority.
Noting that wildlife represented "a viable land use option", Chadenga said that the policy on wildlife-based land reform sought to address this imbalance and ensure access by the majority to the wildlife resource.
With wildlife-based land reform, all land under conservancies and game ranches shall cease to be an exclusive right of the few, declares the policy, as those owning conservancies and ranches shall be required to surrender portions of the same to accommodate indigenous Zimbabweans
Chadenga then outlined "indigenisation options" in which ownership of conservancies and game ranches must change to reflect objectives of the land reform programme.
The three options are current (white) farmers teaming up with Parks and communities, current farmers teaming with communities and current farmers teaming with communities and private indigenous investors.
Then he dropped the bombshell: none of the above had been operationalised.
Among the problems was resistance by white farmers to accept the dispensation of wildlife-based land reform.
They also snubbed new players, thus refusing to cede land acquired and offered to 25-year leaseholders.
On the other hand, the Ministry had been issuing 25-year leases to persons that do not meet the criteria of demonstrable interest and experience in wildlife conservation, capacity for business and development, and ability to contribute to asset base.
Illegal settlements in conservancies had compounded the problem.
Overally, the implementation of the policy had been "poor and uncoordinated" as, besides Parks' own limitations and omissions and commissions, Lands and Resettlement ministry had put for cropping land that was for wildlife production.
If it is to be owned that implementation of plans has been the bane of many plans and projects, the situation here is as outrageous. The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management says there are 2 million hectares that are earmarked for wildlife-based land reform, of which none has been touched, apparently.
There are seven wildlife conservancies in Masvingo, Midlands and Matabeleland provinces.
These are Gwayi, Chiredzi, Midlands, Bubi, Bubiana, Malilangwe, and Save.
Chadenga revealed that only thirty 25-year leases, have been issued thus far, and that means with warts and all.
If the problem lies with unrepentant rogue elements that resist change from a skewed colonial ownership structure depriving indigenous peoples of their rightful place in the sun, then the law must take its course.
At any rate, some of them have been noted for their most racist of actions rendering their properties some "Little Rhodesias" and "Little Englands" beyond the reach and unaffected by politics of majority blacks.
It implies that if they are not comfortable with sharing the resource that they have long enjoyed exclusive "right" to, a "right" that came into being through a wrong called colonialism, they should be vehemently be called to part with the same.
In this case, the recently enacted law of Indigenisation, which requires that indigenous peoples take up 51 percent stake in any business venture, becomes handy.
No longer should sharing be a matter of choice but necessity and political and historical correctness.
It will be cruel to have a throwback to an earlier era of exclusive ownership of resources just when the country is beginning to reap rewards of the land reform programme characterised by surging growth.
Before land reform in 2000, the skewed land tenure meant that one percent of Zimbabwe's population controlled 45 percent of all agricultural land, condemning the majority to arid and unproductive land.
If properly executed, wildlife-based land reform will be able to produce a success story of its own.
Yet there will always be problems that pertain to wildlife production as a business, and a delicate one for that matter.
It will only be prudent that persons that meet the ideal criteria that have been made be able to access land for wildlife.
In this regard, time is arguably not a factor, as rash issuance of leases to those that cannot deploy usefulness in the sector can only spell doom for the programme.
There is need for support for those who meet the minimum requirements to commence business, as in the case with seed animals, which the ministry says it can provide, and other relevant implements.
The problem that some people have settled themselves in conservancies, a reference mainly to the Chitsa clan, which has claimed parts of the Save conservancy, could be addressed amicably in the context of community participation.
Instead of being viewed as a problem, locals and communities represent legitimate entitlement to a resource they historically have been deprived of, and one which they understand, too.
It is only too racist and demeaning to view them as poachers and potential poachers and spoilers.
It has to be admitted that it is their continued marginalisation and criminalisation that might in fact lead to frustration and destruction.
Yet the success of community-based conservation projects over the years, in the mould of the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources suggests communities are as good guardians of their environment as they are businesspeople in their own right.
As the policy suggests, share transfer to the likes of Chitsa clan represents not only an amicable solution but also a historically just and prudent initiative.
To be fair, especially to the poor folk at Parks who are tasked with the big challenge of moving reform in the sector, more time, consultations and resources are needed.
The fact that wildlife-based land reform is not a spatial or isolated event but a national, historical, economic and social one tends to dwarf the authority.
In which case it can be suggested that reform in the wildlife sector be treated with more seriousness, robustness and delicateness it deserves.
The juxtaposition of the wildlife-based land reform and the agrarian reform is also a telling one.
As it is well-known that the latter encountered some challenges in implementation, it is imperative that the former be trained to avoid the same pitfalls.
It will be illogical and tragic for the implementers of the programme to have seen or learnt anything.
Yet it should be realised that where we can afford to grow grass and let lie our pieces of land somewhere for use tomorrow or the day after, wildlife resources face acute danger of extermination and ill use.
No resource is expendable and the sooner and more resolute the programme of wildlife-based land reform is carried out the better.
Labels: COLONIALISM, GAME PARKS, LAND REFORM
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COMMENT - Also see this article from the Mail & Guardian, on Ndume 'reserve' from 2008:
Govt plan may save threatened NdumoYOLANDI GROENEWALD - Aug 07 2008 06:00
Ndumo reserve hit by invasion, crime
YOLANDI GROENEWALD - Oct 15 2010 08:59
Environmentalists are holding their breath to see if order can be restored to the world-renowned Ndumo Game Reserve in northern KwaZulu-Natal after the provincial government called in police reinforcements in response to worsening anarchy there.
Ndumo was attacked by a mob at the end of last month, which destroyed a guard outpost and swing bridge close to the camp and threatened tourists and game rangers. As a result, the KwaZulu-Natal agriculture and environmental affairs department called in troops.
The attack by the 70-strong mob is the latest crisis in the reserve since the wetland and birding area was hit by a land invasion by neighbouring communities two years ago, intended to "liberate" it for agriculture.
The invading Bhekabantu and eMbangweni communities cut down 12km of the park's fence, demanding that they be allowed to farm inside the park.
They have since gone on to occupy 16 20ha or 14% of the reserve, which includes the most ecological sensitive section of the park.
But despite the presence of troops, including the defence force patrolling the border, the land invaders continue to practise slash-and-burn cultivation, destroying large areas of mature riverine fig forest.
The Mail & Guardian understands the mob attack occurred after the provincial environmental portfolio committee met local leaders from the Mbangweni Corridor and Ezemvelo staff members on September 21 and 22.
The police intervened after the swing bridge was destroyed and a large section of mature forest felled with a chain saw.
CONTINUES BELOW
The violence and illegal intrusion into the reserve from the Mbangweni Corridor threatens the Lubombo Ndumo-Tembe-Futi Transfrontier Conservation and Resource Area, created through a protocol signed by the governments of South Africa, Mozambique and Swaziland.
The initiative has the potential to contribute not only towards conservation, but also to bring socioeconomic benefits to an area characterised by poverty and unemployment.
The secretariat of the international Ramsar Wetlands convention in Switzerland has asked for a progress report on Ndumo.
The M&G has seen graphic game rangers' reports of the extensive damage to the reserve.
Even more damaging is the rampant poaching and illegal fishing. Poaching of fauna, including the use of cable snares, has already killed one white rhino and seriously injured another, the reports show.
An environmentalist who was formerly in charge of Ndumo Game Reserve, Paul Dutton, said he believed influential tribal leader Prince Russell Thembe was key to resolving the crisis.
"Thembe is the key person to mediate for a win-win solution to the current impasse as he is an influential and respected leader within local community structures," Dutton said.
He said he had flown over the reserve and Mbangweni Corridor last Sunday and detected neither police activity nor cultivators in the reserve.
"The corridor is a hotbed of crime that the police has to stamp out otherwise the problems faced by Ndumo will escalate to the advantage of the miscreants," he said.
Dutton believes the invasion of the reserve was motivated by criminal elements who wish to maintain freedom of activity in one of South Africa's most crime-ridden border areas.
Thembe did not respond to messages left on his phone.
Minister of Water and Environment Affairs Buyelwa Sonjica has constantly passed this hot potato on to provincial minister Lydia Johnson to resolve, but Johnson has been accused of dragging her feet on the issue in spite of promises.
"The department acknowledges that the process has taken longer than anticipated," said KwaZulu-Natal environmental department spokesperson, Ncumisa Mafunda.
The police monitored land-invasion activity, while the defence force was responsible for controlling the border, Mafunda said, insisting the police were in control of the situation.
"Short-term plans are under way involving fencing a piece of land allocated for subsistence food production."
Long-term plans include involving local communities in conservation management. "The strategy has not failed; the department is working hard to resolve this complicated matter," Mafunda said.
Labels: APARTHEID, GAME PARKS, LAND REFORM
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Shangombo resident fears hunger after elephants raid crops
By Namatama Mundia
Tue 19 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT
A Shangombo resident is worried that there will be increased food insecurity in the area because of the destruction of crops by elephants.
One of the villagers, Moses Ilukena wondered if the villagers would harvest anything after the animals destroyed crops in people’s fields.
“We have a problem here in Shangombo. These elephants which are coming from Sioma-Ngwezi National Park have invaded our fields and destroyed our crops. We don’t know how we are going to survive,” he said. “I can foresee a situation where there will be serious hunger in most areas in the district.”
Ilukena said it was unfortunate that the Zambia Wildlife Association (ZAWA) had not done anything despite the matter being reported to them.
“We have reported to ZAWA but they haven’t done anything. They (ZAWA) only came to the area when a crocodile killed a 12-year-old boy three weeks ago but unfortunately, they didn’t find it,” he said.
Ilukena said Hippos from the Zambezi River had also destroyed crops.
“Last year we had the same problem of animals destroying our crops. They grazed in our fields and unfortunately we struggled throughout the year because the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) people have been without food up to now and the situation might be the same next year,” said Ilukena.
Labels: ELEPHANTS, FOOD, GAME PARKS, SHANGOMBO
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ZAWA opposes Nsefu’s allocation of land to investor
By Ernest Chanda
Mon 28 Dec. 2009, 04:00 CAT
THE Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) in Eastern Province has opposed a move by senior chief Nsefu of Mambwe district to give about 14 hectares of land in the South Luangwa National Park to an investor who wants to build a lodge in the Lupande Hunting Block.
According to a letter sent to ZAWA head office in Lusaka by Eastern Province regional manager Mathew Mushimbalume and dated November 13, 2009, the Authority objects on grounds that the area is too big to be given to any investor.
ZAWA Eastern Province contends that if such a huge chunk of land was given to an investor, there would be no room for wildlife in the hunting block.
"I hereby request your good office not to issue a consent letter or date stamp for land title deeds to a company called Rahoo Enterprise based in Mambwe district, which is constructing Zikomo Lodge in Nsefu chiefdom in Upper Lupande Hunting Block. The reason being that the size of the area the director of the company is claiming to have been allocated for the lodge construction by HRH His Royal Highness senior chief Nsefu (14.77 hectares instead of 5 hectares known by stakeholders in Mambwe district) is quite big," the letter stated.
"Moreover, it is located in a prime hunting area. Our concern is that if the company gets land title deeds, it would mean the hunting block being reduced, thus affecting the hunting operations.”
Mushimbalume stated that currently, the river frontage where hunting is conducted is congested with fishing camps and a few tourism facilities.
Labels: CHIEF NSEFU, GAME PARKS, LAND RIGHTS, MAMBWE DISTRICT, NEOLIBERALISM, ZAWA
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Zambia: White farmers accused of dumping Crocodiles into Lake Kariba
By Lusakatimes staffer
The Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) has instituted investigations into allegations that some crocodile farmers in Siavonga District are releasing condemned crocodiles into Lake Kariba.
ZAWA Acting Director General Jack Chulu said reports of farmers dumping crocodiles in the lake are serious and that the authority will immediately act on the reports to enable establish the truth.
“We want you the stakeholders and the village headmen to help us by bringing forward evidence of farmers that are releasing crocodiles in the lake in order for us to take it seriously with the respective farmers, As ZAWA we will also carry out our own investigations so that the truth is established,” Chulu charged.
Chief Simamba and his four village headmen have attributed the sudden increase in the number of crocodiles in Lake Kariba to the offloading of the reptiles by some white farmers in Siavonga.
Chief Simamba and his four village headmen have attributed the sudden increase in the number of crocodiles in Lake Kariba to the offloading of the reptiles by some white farmers in Siavonga.
The Traditional leaders alleged that the crocodiles that are being released on the lake from the farms are actually the ones that are attacking villagers that live along the lake shore.
The traditional leaders issued the remarks during a meeting that was convened by Tourism and Environment Deputy Minister Moses Mwangala in Siavonga on Monday 21 st December.
The meeting that was held in the District Commissioner Emily Striedl’s office on 21 st December. and attended by key stakeholders was aimed at finding a long term solution on the problem of crocodiles that are attacking people on the banks of Lake Kariba.
Chief Simamba who was represented by his Advisor Phanwell Simamba called on ZAWA to consider carrying out the cropping of crocodiles which he said has become a menace to people’s lives.
“We want government to carry out the cropping exercise of crocodiles on Lake Kariba because they have grown in numbers leading to them attacking both human and livestock animals, “he appealed.
Chief Simamba demanded that the cropping exercise be carried out immediately because government last embarked on such an exercise in the year 1966.
In response, Chulu said as much as ZAWA would like to carry out the cropping exercise, a lot of resources are needed to carry out the exercise.
Chulu said ZAWA however faces a challenge of organizing financial resources to enable carry out the cropping exercise saying things such as a survey need to be done in order to establish the number of reptiles on the waters.
He said that ZAWA will try and talk to its cooperating partners in an effort to try and source for funds needed to carry out the exercise.
Chulu however observed that there is need to conduct public sensitization meetings in villages that are located in crocodile infested areas so that the villages can prevent themselves from getting attacked.
And Mwangala said government is alarmed by the reports of people in Siavonga district that are getting attacked by crocodiles on Lake Kariba some of which have led to deaths.
Labels: CHIEF SIMAMBA, GAME PARKS, SIAVONGA, WHITE FARMERS, ZAWA
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Hunger crisis looms in Mambwe
Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 12:30
Mambwe District Commissioner Firimino Banda has appealed to government to send relief food to avert the looming hunger in the area.
Mr Banda said some households had already started rationing meals which are supplemented by mangoes. He was speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Mambwe district yesterday.
He disclosed that the District Disaster Management Committee (DDMC) had already visited chief’s Msoro and Malama areas to assess the situation.
Mr Banda attributed the looming hunger to a partial drought and human-animal conflict experienced in the 2008/09 farming season where most of the crops were destroyed by wild animals.
“The larger part of the district is vulnerable to hunger because of the human-animal conflict. Even the mangoes which the people are takimg as supplement are also accessed by animals, especially elephants,” he said.
Mr Banda revealed that relevant authorities had already been notified of the looming hunger, adding that his team would soon visit other parts of the district to ascertain the amount of relief food needed.
“People are ready to work for the food if it is made available, especially where construction of classroom blocks is done at Mfuwe Basic School as parents are expected to contribute towards the construction works,” he said.
ZANIS
Labels: FIRIMINO BANDA, GAME PARKS, HUNGER, MAMBWE DISTRICT
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Rupiah finds job for ex-ZAWA director
By Chibaula Silwamba
Sun 08 Nov. 2009, 04:01 CAT
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda has found a job for former ZAWA director general Dr Lewis Saiwana in The Gambia following the termination of his contract after the ZAWA board and international donors rejected him.
Government sources said The Gambian government had asked President Banda to offer that country a wildlife expert to help set up the wildlife sector.
The sources said after the ZAWA board, the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resource top leadership and international donors insisted that Dr Saiwana’s contract must not be renewed, President Banda decided to send him to The Gambia as requested.
“The board chairman, Dr Saiwana and the other officials met President Banda in October and they agreed on the termination of Dr Saiwana’s contract,” the source said. “But the President seemed to be interested in Dr Saiwana so he said Dr Saiwana could not be left just like that - jobless. Therefore, the President said he had received a request from The Gambia for assistance with an expert in wildlife sector to go and help that country to establish the wildlife sector body there. So he President Banda decided to send Dr Saiwana to The Gambia. Dr Saiwana left for The Gambia last week; he left his vehicle at Lusaka International Airport. He went to assess the situation there before he finally moves to that country. He is going there to help set up a wildlife sector body similar to ZAWA. He is not going there as a diplomat or director general of the wildlife body but an advisor.”
The source wondered why President Banda sent Dr Saiwana to the Gambia after he was rejected here.
“The international donors had declared that they would freeze funding to the wildlife sector if ZAWA maintained Dr Saiwana at the helm of the institution. The minister, the permanent secretary and the ZAWA board agreed with the position of the donors and informed the President. But the President has a soft spot for Dr Saiwana and sent him to The Gambia. Somehow, this is bad diplomacy because when The Gambian government realises that Dr Saiwana was rejected here, they will be very upset and may not trust our President and Zambians again. That might sour our relations with The Gambia,” the source said.
The source said ZAWA legal counsel Jack Chulu was now acting as director general pending the recruitment of Dr Saiwana’s replacement.
Efforts to contact Dr Saiwana failed because his mobile phone was off.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Finance and National Planning had reported Dr Saiwana and his management to the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) for investigations over the alleged irregular awarding of a road construction contract in Mfuwe to Tomorrow Investments.
An audit report commissioned by the Norwegian government, which financed the road project, recommended: “The DG Dr Saiwana has to take responsibility with possible action of breach of fiduciary duty. ZAWA has to investigate the employment contract of the DG and charge him for gross negligence for the loss incurred by the statutory body due to his negligent acts. Internal disciplinary procedures should be provided for that.”
Norway had demanded that Dr Saiwana be removed over the irregularities in ZAWA.
Labels: GAME PARKS, LEWIS SAIWANA, RUPIAH BANDA, ZAWA
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