First Time I see This!

AN Australian, Mr Bob Penfold, was last week bundled out of the largest hunting convention in the United States after he launched a hate campaign against Zimbabwe and tried to dissuade hunters from visiting the country.

This follows a continuous campaign by the Australian government among the white Commonwealth members of New Zealand, Canada and Britain to suspend Zimbabwe from the 54-member grouping.

The Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, yesterday said he would use his trip to Britain next week, for the funeral of the Queen Mother, to discuss Zimbabwe with the leaders of Canada, New Zealand and the Commonwealth.

Mr Howard said he believed pressure would grow on organisers of the Commonwealth Games to ban Zimbabwe from the event in Manchester in July but stressed individual countries could not stop Zimbabwe from taking part.

Mr Howard said he had already spoken to New Zealand Prime Minister Ms Helen Clark and hoped that if Canadian Prime Minister Mr Jean Chretien also attended the royal funeral, the three nations could discuss possible future Commonwealth action on Zimbabwe.

"(Clark and I) agreed to get together in London and if Jean Chretien, the Canadian Prime Minister is there, which I think is very likely, we'll probably have a meeting the three of us, perhaps with the Commonwealth secretary-general to talk further about Zimbabwe," Mr Howard said. Ms Clark wants Zimbabwe excluded from the Commonwealth Games but Canada has dismissed that call. Mr Howard said it was a decision, which could only be made by the Commonwealth Games Federation.

"We cannot as governments, not in our kind of free society, stop people from coming. But I wouldn't be surprised if pressure for that grows," Mr Howard said.

Mr Howard was part of a three-nation Commonwealth troika which met in London last month to suspend Zimbabwe.

Mr Penfold, a co-director of Hunt Australia (Pvt) Ltd and Hunt New Zealand Safaris Ltd took the Australian campaign to the United States where he tried to influence Safari Club International to stop hunters from coming to Zimbabwe.

He was however, hauled before the Safari Club International hunting ethics committee where he faces possible life banishment from attending future hunting conventions.

In addition, he risks losing his membership from the 40 000-strong largest hunting grouping for bringing the convention into disrepute.

If banned, it means that he would not be allowed to do any business with any member of the Safari Club International anywhere in the world and this could spell doom to his business empire in Australia and New Zealand.

Australia has repeatedly said it would keep open the option of imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe but ruled out immediate unilateral action following the re-election last month of President Mugabe and the suspension of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth councils.

Mr Penfold claimed in his e-mail and fax notices to safari hunting agents worldwide that President Mugabe "has made it clear that he cannot guarantee the safety of visitors to Zimbabwe" soon after his re-election in the presidential election.

"Notice to All agents . . . We have just been made aware of the cancellation of flights and hunts in Zimbabwe. President Mugabe has made it clear that he cannot guarantee the safety of visitors to Zimbabwe.

"Hunt Australia (Pvt) Ltd and Hunt New Zealand Safaris Ltd would like to offer you our services. If you have been affected by

the situation in Zimbabwe, we will be happy to assist you in putting together an alternative hunting package to the South Pacific for your clients.

"We still have excellent buffalo hunting opportunities available, and we are able to handle groups of hunters during periods between late May and early September 2002.

"Remember . . . Australia and New Zealand are the safest countries in the world. If you have not previously considered the South Pacific as a hunting destination, we look forward to helping you realise the potential in this area," wrote Mr Penfold and Mr John Berry, his co-director.

After receiving the hate mail, a US safari agent Mr Wendell Reich of Hunters' Quest International blew the whistle on Mr Penfold when he approached a Zimbabwean safari operator, Mr Jan Strauss of Beitbridge.

Mr Reich asked: "Is this just a new marketing campaign for Bob (Penfold) or is there something going on?"

Irked by the falsehood in the e-mail and its intended goal, the Zimbabwe Wildlife and Tourism Advisory Council chairman, Mr Ed Kadzombe, and Zimbabwe Association of Tour and Safari Operators chief Mr George Pangeti and other tour operators nearly manhandled Mr Penfold.

However, SCI security quickly moved in, restrained the Zimbabwe safari operators, and whisked him away to a disciplinary hearing.

The Minister of Environment and Tourism, Cde Francis Nhema, who was leading the delegation, held a meeting with the SCI ethics committee and visited several agents allaying their fears.

The SCI also made announcements to the effect that Mr Penfold had lied about Zimbabwe.

Mr Penfold was ordered to apologise in writing for his unprofessional conduct to Zimbabwe safari and tourism operators and agents worldwide.

It was an embarrassing moment for Mr Penfold when his apology was sent to all agents and the convention daily news up date.

In his apology he claimed to have been advised by "several of his former clients that there had been announcements that non-Zimbabwe residents' lives were no longer guaranteed by the Zimbabwe Government and that there were travel warnings announced.

"My reaction was to e-mail my hunt booking agents to advise them that we had plenty of very good hunting opportunities available and that if the clients who had booked for Zimbabwe were concerned, we could be happy to attend to a hunting arrangement in Australia or New Zealand for them.

"The Zimbabwe Government officials attending the convention now advise me that the reports were not true. I hereby apologise for any inconvenience that I may have caused in this matter," Mr Penfold said.

Cde Nhema said hunters were welcome in Zimbabwe, adding that there was a special police protection unit to protect tourists.

Cde Nhema said it was disgraceful for business people to embark on hate campaigns in an effort to increase income receipts.

A US attorney and a friend of Zimbabwe, Mr Leo Grizzaffi, said Zimbabwean businesses could sue Mr Penfold for possible business loss resulting from his unethical business conduct.

Mr Pangeti, who is a senior SCI advisor on conservation and policy on Southern Africa, said the executive committee would soon hand down its judgment on the issue.

The latest move comes after another similar campaign by British Airways, which since last year discouraged its British customers to travel with sporting firearms claiming they were prohibited in Zimbabwe.

A travel agent, Wiltshire Deer Services, in January, told SCI, " myself (M. A. Brackstone) and two others are intending to go to Zimbabwe in June, after the elections. British Airways have recommended that we do not travel with sporting firearms, as Zimbabwe is not allowing any arms whatsoever into the country."

During the convention, the SCI produced material to the effect that sport hunting provided a major source of funding for wildlife and habitat conservation.

Projects such as Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (Campfire) relied on direct methods of distributing wildlife benefits to individual and corporate landowners in cash or infrastructural developments, said SCI.

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