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COLUMNS/MAY 8, 2023/EMMANUEL KORO

Charles Jonga’s Death Robs SADC Of Iconic Conservation Voice

HUGE SADC LOSS: Charles Jonga, director of Zimbabwe's CAMPFIRE Association, succumbed to cancer at the weekend


The untimely death of the director of Zimbabwe CAMPFIRE Association, Charles Jonga, on Saturday, (6 May 2023), is not only a tragedy for his family, friends and colleagues – it is a major loss of an important SADC wildlife conservation voice, writes Johannesburg-based environment journalist Emmanuel Koro.

Former CAMPFIRE chairman and president of the Hwange Painted Dog Project, Alderman Jerry Gotora, revealed that Jonga died of prostate cancer.


Jonga had served as director of the CAMPFIRE Association since May 1997.

“He was a strong ‘sustainable use champion’ who was committed and dedicated to empowering communities and his demise will be difficult to find a replacement. CAMPFIRE is poorer without him,” said Alderman Gotora.

Apart from being the director of the CAMPFIRE Association, Jonga was the vice-chairman of a pro-hunting and pro-sustainable use Southern Africa Community Leaders Network (CLN).


In his condolence message to the Jonga family, the Zambia-based CLN chairman Dr. Rodgers Lubilo said: “As the CLN we join the Jonga family, CAMPFIRE association, and friends in the SADC region and worldwide in grieving together.”

Dr. Lubilo described Jonga as an “icon, a legend and exemplary leader for community conservation and inspired young conservation leaders.”

Dr. Lubilo, who attended a wildlife-revenue-built school in South Luangwa, Zambia said: “Comrade Charles taught us to be determined, and passionate and to embrace the desired need for change that is beneficial to the local communities”.

Jonga was actively involved in the media debates aimed at showing the benefits of international hunting to a world that is largely misled by the animal rights fundraising industry that “hunting is not good for wildlife and the people”.

Yet, hard evidence of international hunting benefits exists in Masoka, one of the CAMPFIRE hunting communities that Jonga worked with.


In Masoka, international hunting revenue was used to build a secondary school that produced medical doctors, nurses, accountants, teachers, technicians, and other related professionals that are further contributing to the economic wellbeing of Zimbabwe.

This is what hunting produces socio-economically.

Most importantly, international hunting revenue supports habitat conservation and helps maintain sustainable wildlife population growth in SADC hunting communities.

Meanwhile, the Southern African conservationists, who have survived Jonga, are challenged to continue explaining the benefits of international hunting and all forms of trade in wildlife products such as ivory trade.


Why should we have hope that those who survived Jonga can continue actively engaging in international hunting media debates to ensure the well-being of African wildlife, its habitat, and the people of the wildlife-rich SADC region?

Let me take you back in history and explain what new communication technology can do, to make you understand why SADC hunting communities’ voices in the media debates can no longer be silenced.

The voices of Southern African hunting communities were completely silenced in the media worldwide when the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) cut funding to the SADC Community Based Natural Resources Management Programme (SADC NRMP) at the start of the 21st century.

Before the USAID withdrew funding from the SADC NRMP, a Zimbabwe-based NGO, the Africa Resources Trust ran a USAID-funded project to take journalists from all over the world to give news coverage on the benefits of community-based natural resources management, particularly the benefits of international hunting to wildlife and habitat conservation.

At that time, the SADC hunting communities’ voices could be heard on all media platforms, countering the endless animal rights groups’ fundraising industry propaganda that demonises international hunting.

After an almost eight-year silence, because of the absence of the USAID SADC NRMP funding that also supported media coverage on the region’s hunting communities, the accessible and affordable WhatsApp technology was fortunately invented in 2009.

It gave SADC hunting communities back their voices in media debates on international hunting.

How?

Journalists can now contact and interview the SADC hunting communities cheaply using WhatsApp, revealing the benefits of international hunting.

But such revelations are bad news to the animal rights fundraising industry because the truth told by direct beneficiaries of international hunting weakens their anti-hunting propaganda.

In the long term it could collapse their fundraising industry. But the animal rights groups don’t ever want to have their fundraising industry collapse.

Therefore, they have now started introducing new ways to silence the voices of SADC hunting communities in the media – as recently witnessed by a University of Witwatersrand professor.

“Some African media organisations are promoting animal rights groups’ anti-sustainable use of African wildlife products at the expense of poor and voiceless communities,” said Professor Tumai Murombo of the Wits University Nelson Mandela Law School.

“This is of great concern.”

He was speaking at the May 2018 International Wildlife Management Politics Lecture presented by Godfrey Harris the Managing Director of the Los Angeles-based Ivory Education Institute.

Elsewhere, an Oxford University PhD researcher and conservation economist, Michael ’t Sas-Rolfes from South Africa, also recently revealed that he had established in his investigative research that seven South African journalists in different cities of the country, including Johannesburg and Cape Town, “are on Western animal rights groups payrolls.”

“These South African journalists are hired to oppose hunting and trade in wildlife products such as ivory and rhino horn,” said Michael ’t Sas-Rolfes.

Yet, journalism ethics demand truth-telling in the public interest.

I leave that to the professors of journalism to confirm.

Meanwhile, environmental NGOs in both South Africa and Namibia have started complaining about some of the very established media outlets’ non-publication of stories related to ivory and rhino horn trade as well as wildlife hunting, despite having great news value.

In this mix of international wildlife management politics and media debate where the necessity of international hunting for wildlife and habitat conservation is being needlessly demonised, I see WhatsApp technology empowering SADC hunting communities to counter this propaganda.

How does this happen?

The SADC hunting communities can now contact journalists such as this writer, any time of the day to break news of never-seen-before international hunting benefits.

They also share information on the challenges such as human-wildlife conflict, especially when elephants ‘murder’ defenceless villagers.

The WhatsApp communication technology has also now made it possible for journalists anywhere in the world to interview SADC hunting communities, even via a video call, and see the international hunting conservation and development benefits on the ground in SADC hunting communities.

This has made it possible for SADC hunting communities to expose lies that the animal rights groups’ fundraising industry continues to tell about international hunting.

Journalists can now speak to hunting communities without having to pay large amounts for travel, accommodation, food, and incidentals.

A newsgathering trip that could cost a journalist from New York, London, Washington, Belgium, or Geneva no less than US$10 000 is now a WhatsApp call away.

If you want photographic evidence about how communities are benefiting from international hunting they will provide it. Even videos can be sent to television journalists.

The language barrier is no longer a challenge. International hunting revenue-built schools and bursaries have almost wiped out levels of illiteracy in Southern African hunting communities.

This has made it possible to communicate with most people in a hunting community in English.

If journalists worldwide increasingly interview the SADC hunting communities, cheaply via WhatsApp and other affordable social media platforms, the animal rights fundraising industry’s lies and media capture might soon have a “crash-landing”.

With time, all the Westerners who donate money to the animal rights fundraising industry and think that that it’s a progressive and benevolent act shall soon learn that their donations are ironically helping to violate the human and sovereign rights of the SADC hunting communities and governments, by restricting them from enjoying full benefits from international hunting.

A case in point is the shutting down of the United Kingdom hunting market where a hunting trophies imports import ban bill was voted for by the animal rights fundraising industry British parliamentarians.

They engaged in this moment of madness, despite appeals from SADC hunting communities (including the late Jonga) and even British scientists not to go ahead with such an African wildlife and people-harming decision.

The African communities would rather kill and not conserve wildlife as long as they pay for its costs without benefits.

Right now the fate of African wildlife, its habitat and African people lies in the hands of the British House of Lords that should this month; endorse or reject the British Parliamentarians’ decision to introduce a hunting trophies imports ban bill.

What this means is that the bill will cause diminished hunting benefits to SADC hunting communities.

However, the British should not think their ill-advised bill will ever stop hunting in Africa.

The U.S.A. is the largest and richest hunting market for Africa.

As long as the hunting dollars from the Americans continue to flow into African hunting communities to benefit conservation and development, the British shall be long forgotten but not forgiven by the African hunting communities.

“I don’t think hunting will ever end in Africa and that is because we have embraced it, it’s part of our tradition, it’s part of our culture and we are seeing the conservation benefits from it,” said a Zambian university student and conservationist Bupe Banda-Mhango.

“To people who are introducing policies that would ban hunting in Africa, I think that is unfair because that is like removing bread from their mouth as somebody told me from the community.”

*About the Writer: Emmanuel Koro is a Johannesburg-based independent international award-winning environmental journalist who writes extensively on environmental and developmental issues in Africa.

*The views expressed by the author of this article, Emmanuel Koro, are not necessarily those of The Bulrushes