Wikileaks – various cables about the Save Conservancy
http://www.insiderzim.com/stories/4695-us-ambassador-raised-save-valley-issue-with-mugabe.html?
US ambassador raised Save Valley issue with Mugabe
Monday, 15 October 2012 12:02
United States ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee took advantage of a meeting
between President Robert Mugabe and congressman Donald Payne to ask Mugabe
about the fate of an American-owned property in the Save Valley Conservancy
that was under threat of being acquired by the government.
Payne had clicked with Mugabe after telling Zimbabwe’s President that he had
been a fan of Mugabe from the days of the liberation struggle.
McGee described the visit as an opportunity for dialogue, “if we can talk
about issues”, and raised the issue of Save Valley conservancy and credit to
farmers as issues that could be discussed.
Payne said the US shared the goal of having positive relations with Zimbabwe
and noted that he and others in congress wanted to see the US end
isolationist policies.
Mugabe did not respond to the Save issue but told Payne “we’ve never taken a
decision to have a hostile relationship with anyone — especially you. You
were there when we started”.
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http://www.insiderzim.com/stories/4469-mnangagwa-associates-interested-in-save-conservancy.html?
Mnangagwa associates interested in Save Conservancy
Monday, 15 October 2012 10:00
Several Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front politicians from
Masvingo, most of them said to be affiliated to Defence Minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa, were interested in a stake in the Save Valley Conservancy.
The Save Valley Conservancy was a privately-owned wildlife reserve of one
million acres comprising 22 properties that shared a common boundary fence.
Among those interested were:
Masvingo Provincial governor Titus Maluleke.
Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education Stan Mudenge
Former Masvingo Governor Josiah Hungwe
Director of Conservation in the Parks Authority Vitalis Chadenga.
Major General Engelbert Rugeje, Chief of Staff to the Zimbabwean Army.
Chiredzi South MP Aaron Baloyi
Former Chipinge South MP Enock Porusingazi, and
Former Gutu South MP Shuvai Mahofa.
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http://www.insiderzim.com/stories/4693-american-hunters-constituted-90-percent-of-save-valley-clients.html?
American hunters constituted 90 percent of Save Valley clients
Monday, 15 October 2012 06:03
More than 90 percent of the clients of one of the owners of a conservancy
farms in the Save Valley were American hunters.
Clive Stockil, the general manager of the Save Valley Conservancy, one of
the largest private conservancies in Africa, told this to a United States
embassy official.
He also pointed out that wildlife safaris and ecotourism represented the
easiest and fastest means to rejuvenate Zimbabwe’s economy, particularly at
the local level.
He had, however, at another occasion gone to great pains to dissuade
investors led by Chief Fortune Charumbira telling them that making money
from wildlife was not as easy as the government thought.
The director of National Parks Morris Mutsambiwa told the same US official
that up to 92 percent of the Parks and Wildlife budget came from
hunting-related revenue and that about 60 percent of hunters in Zimbabwe are
Americans.
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http://www.insiderzim.com/stories/4694-hunting-major-source-of-revenue-for-zanu-pf-elite.html?
Hunting major source of revenue for ZANU-PF elite
Monday, 15 October 2012 08:03
Hunting had long been a source of ill-gotten revenue for members of the
Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front elite and they were
developing new hunting schemes to earn more foreign currency.
This was said by the United States embassy after the Safari Operators
Association of Zimbabwe claimed that the government was indiscriminately
issuing hunting licences including in the country’s national parks.
Sally Bown, administrative officer for SOAZ, said that numerous photographic
safari operators in Hwange National Park were sending emails reporting
commercial elephant hunting incidents within the park.
Bown and Save Valley Conservancy director Clive Stockil believed that this
frantic last grab at hunting revenue was one more aspect of ZANU-PF
insiders’ efforts to strip assets and fill their pockets before losing power
to the Movement for Democratic Change
She said that the same small group of hunters involved in this operation had
been consistently involved in unethical and marginally legal hunting.
Bown named some of the professional hunters involved as Guy Whitall, Tim
Schultz of African Dream Safaris, Headman Sibanda and Wayne Grant of Nyala
Safaris, Evans Makanza, Alan Shearing, Buzz Charlton and James Macullam of
Charlton Macullum Safaris, A.J. Van Heerden of Shashe Safaris, Barry Van
Heerden of Big Game Safaris, and Lawrence Boha.
According to the US embassy numerous conservationists had suggested that the
Van Heerden brothers were involved in suspicious hunting and land deals with
the Director of the Central Intelligence Organization, Happyton Bonyongwe.