TSHOLOTSHO Rural District Council (RDC) has been accused of selling elephants for a song to concession holders under the Government quota system.
Communities living near national parks are allocated a
number of elephants among other wildlife that they sell to develop their areas.
Tsholotsho District is allocated 25 elephants each year for
sale and the funds that are generated are used for community development.
It is said an elephant rakes in between US$40 000 and US$60
000 but the local authority sold elephants for US$10 000 each.
The local authority claimed that the Covid-19 pandemic
affected international travel resulting in concession holders proposing a discount
so as to engage local hunters in the absence of those from abroad who
traditionally pay more for safari hunts.
It is alleged that Lodzi Hunters which has a concession in
Tsholotsho South and Mathuphula Safaris with a concession in Tsholotsho North requested
a discount for each elephant.
A concession holder has authority to hunt in a specified
block for a period of time.
Sources said Lodzi Hunters offered to pay US$10 000 per
elephant while Mathuphula Safaris offered US$23 000 per elephant.
A councillor who spoke on condition of anonymity said
despite Mathuphula Safaris offering US$23 000, some councillors pushed for both
concessions to buy the jumbos at the same price of US$10 000.
“So, they resolved that the elephants be sold for US$10 000
for both Lodzi Safaris and Mathuphula Safaris,” said a councillor.
A local chief, who spoke on condition of anonymity said of
concern is that even traditional leaders were not consulted when council
decided to lower the elephant prices yet they have a huge stake in the matter.
“The community should benefit from the elephants as they
are the ones who get attacked by the animals. In the past council, the four
chiefs: Chief Siphoso, Chief Tategulu and Chief Mathuphula and Chief Gampu were
consulted by council in the selling of elephants as 60 percent of the funds
obtained from selling of elephants would go to community while 40 percent goes
to council. But this time around we were never consulted.
We don’t know what is happening in council yet in the past
we were even engaged to observe what was happening in council,” said the chief.
He said eyebrows had been raised after some councillors
bought cars after the elephants were sold and the source of that income is
unclear.
“It will be prudent that institutions such as the Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption Commission conduct investigations at council. We are aware that
it’s not all the councillors who might be involved in underhand dealings. Since
when did council start offering so low prices on elephants? The council we know
would request for more money not to further discount a reduced price,” he said.
Tsholotsho RDC chief executive officer Mr Nkululeko Sibanda
defended the council saying everything was done above board.
“When the first Level Four lockdown was promulgated by His
Excellency, the President, all travels were banned and the business people who
do hunting are from outside the country, Europe and by virtue of that there
were no flights coming to Zimbabwe.
A quota that you are given per year is not carried to the following
year and through consultation we agreed that we engage local hunters who cannot
pay as much as foreign hunters. That was tabled to council from relevant
committees up until a resolution was made,” said Mr Sibanda.
He said it was resolved to sell elephants at a lowered
price.
Mr Sibanda confirmed that they sold the Tsholotsho South
elephants for US$10 000 but added that for Tsholotsho North they went for US$23
000 each.
He said while there was a resolution for the sale of
Tsholotsho North at US$23 000 he could not state the rationale of selling those
from Tsholotsho South at US$10 000 as the decision was made before he became
the CEO.
He said even though he was working at the local authority,
he was not the person at the helm when that decision was made.
He also said council was not obliged to consult chiefs on
issues regarding elephants.
“The communities were consulted because we have Campfire
communities from those concession areas. We consulted the community through the
councillors. And a resolution is made by a full council. There is nothing that
has changed.
I have been in council for the past 18 to 20 years. I don’t
remember when we were doing contracts for elephant hunting where chiefs were
consulted. What you are talking about I don’t know,” he said.
Tsholotsho RDC chairperson councillor Esau Siwela also said
everything was done above board.
Lodzi Hunters director Mr Paradzai Nemashakwe said the
Covid-19 pandemic forced his organisation to seek discounts for elephants.
“Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, clients have been hesitant
to come to the ground. And we had to make a special arrangement for those who
forced themselves to come to conduct business. We asked to pay US$10 000 to the
council for each elephant. Although, I don’t know what is happening with the
other concession, I understand they also got a 50 percent discount, I don’t
look at what they are getting,” said Mr Nemashakwe.
“Last year and this year have been difficult, we still have
elephants that we are failing to sell. Our clients are like anyone else, they
take advantage of the situation and if there is drought you can see people
selling cattle at US$50.
That is the same with this situation. You cannot gamble and
say you will sell the elephants at a high price.”
Tsholotsho District Development Coordinator Mr Aaron Gono
said his office was informed of the council’s plan to offer discount on
elephant sales.
“Yes, it was agreed that due to Covid-19 the two
concessions requested that the price of elephants be lowered from around US$40
000 to US$23 000 and it was agreed at council level to accede to that. So,
elephants were sold at US$23 000. As an office we are not aware that elephants
were further discounted to US$10 000.
Probably it was reached in our absence,” said Mr Gono.
“And the unfortunate part is that council is not submitting
minutes right now. If they were
submitting minutes to us and these minutes, we are supposed to forward them to
the Provincial Development Coordinator and we are also supposed to submit them
to our headquarters so that they can also check, so that even the minister can
give advice.
We have written quite a number of letters to the council
chief executive officer requesting for council minutes. That is where another
challenge is coming from. How can we advise them if we don’t have this
correspondence?”
He said although they have not received official
complaints, they have also observed that some councillors were seemingly
amassing wealth after joining the council.
“We have seen some councillors buying cars but as an office
we cannot relate it to anything. So, anything is possible, people might be
getting kickbacks or they might be using their own means. But we are seeing
lifestyle changes with some of these councillors,” he said.
Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority
spokesperson Mr Tinashe Farawo said the authority does not regulate the prices
of elephants.
“We do not have a standard figure that elephants can be
sold for and at the same time those with quotas are allowed to have a figure as
long as there has been a formal and official agreement, we have no minimum or
maximum amount,” said Mr Farawo. Chronicle
0 comments:
Post a Comment