https://af.reuters.com/article.../idAFKCN1IV0IH-OZATP



TOP NEWSMAY 30, 2018 / 1:21 AM / UPDATED 6 HOURS AGO

Zimbabwe investigates bribe allegations after hunter indicted in U.S

Reuters Staff

2 MIN READ

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe’s wildlife agency said on Tuesday it was investigating allegations that a South African national bribed officials to allow a Colorado-based tourist to take the ivory tusks of an elephant illegally shot in a Zimbabwe game park.


Their inquiry comes after U.S. prosecutors accused the South African, who was with a hunting party in Gonarezhou National Park in southern Zimbabwe, of paying up to $8,000 in bribes to Zimbabwean government officials to kill the elephant inside the park and to have the animal’s ivory released.

“We are investigating the matter,” said Tinashe Farawo, spokesman for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority. He gave no further details.

A government official, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said Zimbabwean authorities had contacted the South African but he was not forthcoming with information.


A statement by the U.S. Department of Justice in Colorado dated May 21 said the South African conspired with the unidentified Colorado hunter to export the tusks by falsely saying in official documents the hunter was a South African resident and that the elephant was shot outside Gonarezhou.

It is illegal under Zimbabwean law for hunters to shoot animals inside a state game park.

In 2015, a U.S. dentist touched off a global storm when he killed a rare black-maned lion named Cecil with a bow and arrow outside Hwange National Park in western Zimbabwe, forcing the United States to suspend importation of elephant trophies from Africa.

Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Alison Williams

somebody didn't get their cut of the bribes......

quote:

Originally posted by DTala:
somebody didn't get their cut of the bribes......

Exactly!

Did they name the hunter?

"I'm shocked, there's gambling going on here!"

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Hasher:
Did they name the hunter?[/QUOTE
Yes, he is a fellow Coloradan. There is a long thread here a week ago

Not necessarily.

There is a lot of corruption in National Parks stations, but it is regional. In Gonarezhou, game scouts (who, with respect to the many who do their jobs diligently) are the bottom rung on the ladder and they could have allowed a follow-up into the park - or even a hunt in the park - without any of the officers necessarily being aware. Once the paperwork is signed off at each level, no one is any the wiser. In Mana Pools, it might be misuse of ration quota (which is currently supplying butcher shops in Chirundu and Kariba), and so on.

In this case, the client is a crook, even to the point of trying to falsify his nationality to get what he wants, so he belongs behind bars in my opinion. The South African "Professional" Hunter is equally bent for allowing this to happen and being an active participant, so he should be at the Grey Bar Hotel too. No reason to feel sorry for either of them, or the Zimbabwe operator who used his license as a flag of convenience.

But we have this tendency to say "C'mon, it was all because a Zimbabwean official didn't get his cut of the bribe." Time to wake up. Who broke the law in the first place necessitating a bribe? Who offered the bribe? By being apologists for either of these slime, we are doing the whole legitimate hunting fraternity a dis-service. Zimbabwe and South Africa need to pull the licenses of the two operators; the Colorado Crook got off lightly.

But the real point is that this sort of behavior has to be fought. Unless USF&WS had nailed the operator in an unrelated (or, was it? You will never know who gave whom information about what and from where) sting operation, this whole thing may never have seen the light of day. It does happen in Africa, more often than any of us would be comfortable admitting. It is in all our best interests to see it curtailed.

Parks Investigators here want everyone in Zimbabwe who was involved, and they are working toward that.

quote:

Originally posted by DTala:
somebody didn't get their cut of the bribes......