Wildlife land reform begins

Tuesday, 08 March 2011 20:40

By Isdore Guvamombe
From The Herald

GOVERNMENT is now implementing the Wildlife-Based Land Reform Poli-cy after five years of resistance from conservancy owners.
This will see 59 indigenous people getting leases from the Government or sharing conservancies with white for-mer owners.
The Government has promised to tackle any operational problems that might arise.
Thirty-nine indigenous people were allocated leases in Masvingo, 21 in the Midlands, and three in the Matabeleland region.
In an interview on Monday, Parks and Wildlife Management Authority director-general Mr Vitalis Chadenga said: "Implementation of Wildlife-Ba-sed Land Reform remained one of the unfinished businesses 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.
"We held 15 meetings over the years towards implementation of the Wildli-fe-Based Land Reform Policy with no tangible results.
"This time around, the implementation has taken off and Government has undertaken to solve any policy ope-rational problems that might arise."
He said the Parks Authority would like to see a viable and profitable wild-life sector.
The authority's role is confined to regulation and support for the private wildlife industry.
"However, while we held workshops and engaged in seemingly endless meetings, the resource base on farms was under severe threat as evidenced by habitat loss and relentless poaching, he said.
"Chiredzi Conservancy is a pale sha-dow of its past with the same story repeating itself in Bubiana and smaller game ranches throughout the country.
"Government remains committed to having wildlife managed by landow-ners themselves to promote commercial production and services.
"However, there is also the expectation that other players must be allo-wed on board.''
Save Valley Conservancy represen-tative, Mr David Goosen, welcomed the development.
"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.

quote:

indigenous investor

racism with a kiss. Its like calling muggers, merchants. Moonts

I can see it now. 2020: there is NO wildlife left in the country, but the population is over 80 million. Then Uncle Bob asks the West for a billion dollars to re-introduce wild game. Hopefully, we tell him to die, and the chinese take over the country because UB owes them four or five billion for projects.

Rich

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Wildlife land reform policy will have huge impact on tourism

By Tichaona Sibanda
9 March 2011

A leading wildlife expert in Zimbabwe has warned that government’s push to implement the controversial wildlife based land reform will have ‘a huge’ impact on tourism.

Johnny Rodrigues, chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that wildlife is the hallmark of tourism in Zimbabwe and any further disturbances to the industry will kill off the sector.

‘It’s a pity people are being used as political tools. Elections are coming and this is why you have people who support the regime going into these conservancies. Genuine conservationists had the welfare of animals at heart.

But to suggest that bringing in new faces aligned to one political party and hope they will turn around wildlife conservancy as part of this new policy is just fantasy and pure greed,’ Rodrigues said.

Authorities announced on Tuesday that they will now start forcing the predominantly white conservancy owners to join with black partners in a new round of so-called land reforms.

Parks and Wildlife Authority Director-General, Vitalis Chadenga, described the new policy as ‘one of the unfinished businesses of the land reform program’. It has mainly targeted ranches and conservancies situated in the southern half of Zimbabwe.

Chadenga told the state controlled Herald the wildlife-based land reform policy will see at least 60 indigenous people getting leases from the government or ‘sharing’ conservancies with white former owners. Sharing means the owners will be forced to give up 51% of their shares.

Most of those eyeing the conservancies are ZANU PF heavyweights and senior military personnel, who include cabinet Minister Stan Mudenge, Masvingo Governor Titus Maluleke, former deputy Minister Shuvai Mahofa, Major-General Engelbert Rugeje and retired Brigadier-General Gibson Mashingaidze.

Rodrigues said wildlife management is a specialized field and people who were qualified to care for the wildlife have been driven off their properties to make way for people who, in most cases, have no experience in the field.

‘A decade ago, we had 640 game ranches in Zimbabwe but its now gone down to five. Of 14 conservancies before 2000, the last one was grabbed only recently, leaving none at all. Animals are being killed indiscriminately and there’s a lot of commercial poaching as well,’ Rodrigues added.

Unscrupulous hunters and safari operators from South Africa and Botswana are targeting Zimbabwe and have reportedly been responsible for hunting the very few animals left. They are also reportedly buying hunts from the new settlers, who have no idea what hunts are really worth so they are paid a very small sum, allowing huge profits to be made by the unscrupulous hunters.

‘Tourism is being hugely affected by this. They are spending millions marketing tourism and telling the world they want the tourists to come back. The tourists aren’t going to come back because the basics and principals of the industry have been thrown out the window,’ according to Rodrigues.

Two years ago the head of the United Nations programme to protect endangered species said that Zimbabwean security forces were spearheading the poaching of elephants and rhinos in the country.

Willem Wijnstekers, secretary-general of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, said that between 2008 – 2010 security forces had killed about 200 rhinos, putting that population on the verge of extinction in Zimbabwe.

Yes, indeed terrible news for the operators involved. But, we knew it was coming. I hope and trust the operators can make the best of the situation, and press on as they have been doing!

Cross-referencing the "heavyweights" listed in the article with the US Banned List as sent by SOAZ 2/4/11, the only one on the Banned List that I could fine is "MUDENGE, Isack Stan Gorerazvo". But obviously anybody from the US booking for or hunting on ANY of the Private Conservancies needs to check out who the new "partner" is or will be.

Glad I hunted the Save last year (Mokore) - it is a stunning place that is simply teeming with game.

The Zimbos are a tough lot and I sure admire them. It is a beautiful country but the situation is heartbreaking.

I also wondered about these "partners" and the banned list...

Lots of twists and turns yet to go in this story I'm sure.

Sad news.

Perry

Guys,

Before we get carried away and start one more gloom and doom thread about Zimbabwe we probalby should consider the safari operators opinions. None of the people I work with expect the hunting to change from the client's perspective at all.

Zim has been in a state of turmoil since 2000, the hunting has continued and is very good to outstanding in many areas.

Mark

Well Said Mark

An important factor in this whole process is that whilst Government is pushing the reform through, it has been made crystal clear that this is not a free ride and any partnerships require monetary investment . This has been a refreshing change to most of the political rhetoric that has gone on in the recent past.

From an operators perspective, this should not affect the clients at all. Its just another Bump in the road that will be handled in the same way the other bumps have been.

A good operator will always keep their clients fully informed of the situations on the ground and developing.