Thought this was interesting...


CIO chief among ZANU PF officials linked to illegal hunting in Zim

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
17 October 2012

Zimbabwe’s head of the notorious Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO),
and other key ZANU PF officials, have been linked to years of illegal
hunting in the country’s conservancies, which is said to have been a key
source of revenue for the party.

CIO Director Happyton Bonyongwe was named in a confidential diplomatic
cable, created in 2008 by then US Ambassador James McGee, who warned that
hunting “has long been a source of ill-gotten revenue for members of the
ZANU PF elite, and given the ongoing resource grab, it is not surprising
that new hunting schemes have developed to supply the elites with forex.”

The cable, released by the online whistleblower WikiLeaks, claimed that the
government was indiscriminately issuing hunting licences in the country’s
national parks, with a devastating impact on Zimbabwe’s protected wildlife
species. At the time the illicit parcelling out of hunting licences was
linked to ZANU PF’s plans to secure as much of a grip on resources as
possible before it faced the MDC in elections.

A small group of hunters and safari operators were allegedly consistently
involved in the illegal hunting practices. The diplomatic cable named
professional hunters like Guy Whitall, Tim Schultz of African Dream Safaris,
Headman Sibanda and Wayne Grant of Nyala Safaris, Evans Makanza, Alan
Shearing, Buzz Charlton and James Macullam of Charlton Macullum Safaris,
A.J. Van Heerden of Shashe Safaris, Barry Van Heerden of Big Game Safaris,
and Lawrence Boha.

According to the US embassy, numerous conservationists had suggested that
the Van Heerden brothers were involved in suspicious hunting and land deals
with the CIO’s Bonyongwe.

McGee warned in the cable that, “this ongoing struggle over greed,
ill-gotten forex, and natural resource management is just one more result of
the continued political impasse in Zimbabwe.”

The cable was a warning of things to come and illegal hunting practices have
since been ‘normalised’ through the ZANU PF led indigenisation campaign.
National Parks in August this year issued hunting permits to 25 so-called
indigenous ‘farmers’ who were given land in the wildlife-rich Save Valley
Conservancy in the Lowveld. National Parks director general Vitalis
Chadenga, said this was part of the government’s ‘wildlife based land reform’
exercise, saying beneficiaries have been allocated 25-year land leases in
conservancies throughout Masvingo province.

Included in the list of beneficiaries are top ZANU PF officials and
loyalists, such as Masvingo Governor Titus Maluleke, former Gutu South
legislator Shuvai Mahofa and the late Higher and Tertiary Education Minister
Stan Mudenge.

The Masvingo Governor and other key MPs have since last year been
spearheading a ZANU PF led campaign of ‘indigenisation’ in the province,
dubbed the ‘Masvingo Initiative’, with the intention of grabbing land.
Former governor Josiah Hungwe, former MP Enock Porusingazi, army boss
Engelbert Rugeje, and former MP and war vet Shuvai Mahofa, were last year
also fingered by whistleblower website WikiLeaks as being part of the
Masvingo land grab.

The Save Valley Conservancy has called the handover of the new hunting
licenses a ‘criminal act’ that has nothing to do with genuine indigenisation
efforts. Johnny Rodrigues, the head of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force
(ZCTF), told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that the licences need to be
revoked.

“Actually, we believe that hunting needs to be suspended for three years to
do a proper audit and to put some controls in place. Otherwise, we are
heading towards doom,” Rodrigues warned.

He added that a senior government official is believed to have quietly
stepped in to stop the ongoing takeover of the conservancies, “so we will
see what will happen in the next few weeks.

quote:

A small group of hunters and safari operators were allegedly consistently
involved in the illegal hunting practices. The diplomatic cable named
professional hunters like Guy Whitall, Tim Schultz of African Dream Safaris,
Headman Sibanda and Wayne Grant of Nyala Safaris, Evans Makanza, Alan
Shearing, Buzz Charlton and James Macullam of Charlton Macullum Safaris,
A.J. Van Heerden of Shashe Safaris, Barry Van Heerden of Big Game Safaris,
and Lawrence Boha.

There are some "real" names in there! That is one serious net to throw.

Gotta be more Propaganda!

.

The CIO chief obviously has friends in the media. That wide net he is casting is his lifeline.

This should be interesting!

The fact that the cable came from the US Embassy should make us all take this seriously. I am really surprised at the high profile Safari operator names listed in that cable.

465H&H

465, you are not the only one surprised.

Very interesting!

It's very clear our State Dept uses information other than fact to move other agendas...so don't jump to conclusions too quickly on the named PHs.

Before anyone attributes political motives to the U.S. State Department, please note that the cable in question is from 2008 from the former ambassador.

Disinformation from our State Dept isn't unique to our current administration. Though,today the professional lifers have honed their spin skills.

Having just read background information on the role our administration played in the demise of Rhodesia, I think you are entirely correct, Mr. Grow!

Did you ever think that the people who posted this maybe tree huggers. There are no facts mentioned.
Where is Out of Africa?

Mike

BS from Zim. Who says diplomatic cables are the gospel truth.

confidential diplomatic cable my ass propaganda is more like it

While I deplore the ongoing rape of our wildlife resources - I am not sure that this is entirely accurate : to say Buzz, myles and Alan Shearing are "consistently involved in illegal hunting practises" is BS. I know these guys personally and am sure they are honest and respected PHs - not only here but internationally.

I back Muvhimi on this. Buzz,Myles and Alan are all first class guys and very ethical, and I have known them for a very long time and never known them to have done any illegal hunting.

Sounds like the same old Rodrigues crap.

As I posted on the other active thread reg the same thing...this “article” is junk journalism. It is taking a quote from the 2008 "Leaked Cable" regarding attempts by multiple reputable operators to work with Parks to setup an elephant management program in Hwange national park - and applies it to the current situation in the SAVE Conservancy, and infers that all the hunters named have ties to the ZANU PF Party. Typical lazy, and slanderous journalism.

I echo Andy and Peter's comments as to the ethics of Alan, Buzz and Myles. There are some dodgy operators in Zim, but these guys are not among them. It is a shame that their names got thrown into the mix.

Myles asked me to post the following for him this morning. First, let me echo the comments of others. While there are many abuses taking place in Zim and a number of well known operators that have close ties to individuals very close to the government, Buzz, Myles and Alan are part of the solution in my mind, not part of the problem.


CM SAFARIS STATEMENT:

Hi everyone.

I want to breakdown this report in to two parts:

1. The actual article from October 2012. Insofar as it relates to us (CM SAF) it is all total BS. It comes on the fourth anniversary of the leaked cable you have all seen and has simply been twisted to suit 2012 by some twit reporter. This type of reporting certainly out here is commonplace. There is simply zero accountability. Interpret it as you will.

2. The actual leaked cable from October 2008. I am fairly certain that we were included in this elite group of individuals because in October 2008 WE DID shoot 4 elephants in Hwange Park (three old cows and a young bull). I do believe Buzz has dealt with this on AR some time ago.

Anyhow to refresh everyone’s memory - Back in 2008 (probably Zim’s darkest year ever) National Parks made it quite clear that they were totally broke and needed assistance. This is when commercial ration hunting started.

We DID donate $4000 worth of diesel and six new tires for Land Cruisers to the Park;

We DID receive a permit to shoot five elephants with the option to take another five -– all legal;

We DID NOT sell or advertise “hunts” in the park, we DID NOT profit from this;

We DID NOT shoot trophies (far from it); and

We DID at the time believe we were helping, but when we arrived and actually witnessed what was going on pulled out.

It is also worth noting that at around the SAME time SOAZ made FORMAL applications to Parks that they administer the ration hunting to (1) generate money for Parks as well as more importantly (2) to regularize the entire operation.

The basic idea being that hunting operators would administer ration quotas in their own concessions and photographic operators the quotas in their Parks. Sadly this was turned down by Parks.

In hindsight yes we do have regrets, there is no excuse for hunting in a Park. At the time though we did think we were actually helping and did have exactly the same goals as SOAZ.

Cheers

Myles

Sometimes, even when trying to do what we consider "right", we still get caught in a spiders web of trouble.

Isn't Hillary Clinton in charge of the State Dept?

does anyone know if Evans Makanzas PH license was
pulled?
Cheers, Hans

quote:

Originally posted by HJ wild:
does anyone know if Evans Makanzas PH license was
pulled?
Cheers, Hans

More necroposting!

Probably not the best time to resurrect this misguided post.

quote:

Originally posted by Will:
Sounds like the same old Rodrigues crap.

Just what I thought.

This nutter has never been friends of hunters.

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
Isn't Hillary Clinton in charge of the State Dept?

Used to be Hillary. Now it's John "I went to Viet Nam" Kerry.

What pissed me off, is that FSW can do this kind thing "on their own".

If every department in the US Government used arguments like these, we would stop doing buiness at an international level with a large part of Africa, 1/2 of Latin America, and all of China!

These guys have way to much power, and basically very little oversight (from what I see or have read).

What can be done to get them under control?

OK, done ranting for this morning... sorry