ZANU PF officials implicated in wildlife bribes scam
By Tererai Karimakwenda
11 September, 2012
A group of ZANU PF officials who were recently given land and granted
hunting licenses in the Save Valley Conservancy have been accused of trying
to sell the licences back to the white owners, whose licenses were
cancelled.
The allegations came from the Conservancy’s Vice Chairman, Wilfried Pabst,
who reportedly said all 25 beneficiaries have been approaching his
“colleagues and business partners”, demanding bribes that ranged from
$10,000 to $100,000 in exchange for their permits.
According to the Daily News newspaper, Pabst said the Conservancy turned the
bribes down because they “could not entertain such mafia style operations”.
He described the bribes as “blackmail” which had nothing to do with
indigenisation.
The ZANU PF officials were granted concessions by the National Parks and
Wildlife under the guise of indigenization in July, ignoring warnings about
the destruction their actions would bring to the valuable wildlife in the
Save Conservancy.
There is also concern that the Conservancy-based land grabs could jeopardise
Zimbabwe’s foreign investment opportunities, ahead of the UN World Tourism
Organization General Assembly, due in Victoria Falls next year.
The list of beneficiaries of the hunting licences and land grab include the
Minister of Higher Education Stan Mudenge, Masvingo governor Titus Maluleke
and war vet and former legislator Shuvai Mahofa. A more detailed list
published last week included top military officials and ZANU PF legislators,
as well as war vet leader Joseph Chinotimba.
They are said to be part of a land grab campaign known as the “Masvingo
Initiative”, who plan to takeover conservancies and hunting concessions
using ZANU PF’s so-called land reform and empowerment policies.
Johnny Rodrigues from the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force confirmed said
that greed has taken over and there is a lot of corruption taking place in
the conservancies. “The only people that are benefiting are one-sided party
faithful and these guys are really milking the country,” Rodrigues
explained.
He told SW Radio Africa they have been saying for years that ZANU PF would
target the conservancies once they destroyed the ranches, and this is now
happening. It is feared the National Parks, where wildlife is protected, may
be next.
Regarding the beneficiaries, Rodrigues said: “They are not actually
conservationists. All they are interested in is fattening their wallets. The
rural people should be part of the stakeholders so that they become your
anti-poaching corridor. But at the moment they do not benefit at all.”
War vet Shuvai Mahofa, one of those granted a hunting licence, is reported
to have openly admitted she is only concerned with making money. According
to the Daily News, she dismissed allegations that they were destroying the
conservancies as “rubbish” and added “I do not care what they say because I
am now in business and making money. We have freed Zimbabwe from these
Germans and Italians.”
Asked to answer allegations that she lacked wildlife management and hunting
skills, Mahofa said: “We cannot let the whites enjoy riches in our country.
We also want blacks in this sector. It is unacceptable that these few whites
are allowed to harvest the money there. In fact I am realising that farming
is a waste of time, there is a lot of money to be made in hunting.
She added: “Business is very good and there is free money to be made out
there.”