Zanu-PF poaching links exposed
RAY NDLOVU AND YOLANDI GROENEWALD – Oct 08 2010 06:33
Dawie Groenewald, the alleged rhino-poaching kingpin, has been linked to
powerful Zanu-PF members in Zimbabwe, including Kembo Mohadi, the joint home
affairs minister, and Jocelyn Chiwenga, the wife of army chief Constantine
Chiwenga.
Groenewald, of Out of Africa Adventurous Safaris, was arrested with his
wife, Sariette Groenewald, and a contracted hunter, Tielman Erasmus, in
Limpopo last month in connection with poaching. Groenewald was released on
R1-million bail and his wife on bail of R100 000.
Also among those held in police raids were two vets from the Modimolle area,
Karel Toet and Manie du Plessis, and Toet’s wife, Mariza.
Groenewald, a former police officer, is well known among Zimbabwe’s
ranchers. According to Johnny Rodrigues, the chairman of the Zimbabwe
Conservation Task Force (ZCTF), Groenewald’s association with Zanu-PF’s top
brass in running illegal hunting activities in Zimbabwe could open a can of
worms.
“Groenewald’s arrest is likely to expose a lot of high-powered people in
Zanu-PF who are involved in poaching activities. The case is a time bomb
waiting to explode,” he said.
“These Zimbabweans are exporting resources for huge profits when they
haven’t put a cent into the safari business. It shows the dearth of law and
order in the country.”
In 2003 Groenewald operated Out of Africa Adventurous Safaris in Zimbabwe
before it was banned in September 2005 by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife
Management Authority.
Safari industry watchdogs raised concerns that Out of Africa was involved in
poaching and hunted on the farms of evicted white farmers in cahoots with
war vets and Zanu-PF officials. Out of Africa denied the charges levelled
against it.
Groenewald did not want to comment citing sub judice.
Rodrigues highlighted the allegedly illegal hunting operations of the
unlicensed Zhove conservancy unit near Beitbridge. Farm owners in the area
said that the unit, comprising state security personnel, war veterans and
Zanu-PF activists, was a prime target of operators such as Groenewald. The
farmers said that the unit “regularly receives hunting quotas from the
department of national parks and wildlife”.
According to the ZCTF, Zhove invaded five farms in Beitbridge this year.
Zanu-PF’s control of wildlife-rich areas had enabled it to use poached
animals to feed soldiers and crowds at political rallies. Wildlife sources
said that three elephants and three buffaloes were killed this week to
provide meat for supporters at a Zanu-PF rally in Gokwe to open the Women’s
Development Bank.
Rodrigues said Zhove also sold animal skins to South African poachers,
allegedly including Johannes Roos, who has been linked to a shady alliance,
dubbed the “Musina Mafia” by locals.
Well-placed sources in Musina confirmed that Roos and Groenewald were “close
associates”.
In July Beeld newspaper exposed Roos as part of the “Musina Mafia” and
implicated him in arms smuggling across the Zimbabwean border.
Roos’s whereabouts are currently unknown, he is said by sources close to the
poaching investigation to be in hiding.
An exiled Zimbabwe radio station, SW Radio Africa, has reported that Mohadi
is associated with South African-based poachers and facilitated Groenewald’s
release in Zimbabwe after he was arrested for rhino poaching in the Bubi
area.
It is also suspected that Groenewald was released after spending two nights
in a Beitbridge prison in August last year as a result of Mohadi’s
intervention.
Attempts to contact Mohadi for comment were unsuccessful.
Zimbabwean wildlife sources said that, since 2000, when farm invasions
began, Zanu-PF loyalists have extended their control over the country’s
lucrative safari business, grabbing all the best reserves. Jocelyn Chiwenga
reportedly controls all concessions in the Victoria Falls area and deals
with wealthy Americans.
The farmers said that Groenewald was still very active in Zimbabwe.
“Although they [Out of Africa] were banned from operating in the country, it
is known within safari industry circles that they have been using an
operation called Africa Dream Safaris to hunt in Zimbabwe,” Rodrigues said.
Attempts to get a comment from Africa Dream Safaris were unsuccessful.