http://www.hararetribune.com
Saturday, 11
October 2008 16:31
Robert Mugabe, at the urging of his cronies in
ZANU-PF and hardline War
Vets, has gone ahead and broke the GNU deal by
forming a new cabinet
unilateraly. The MDC has denounced Mugabe's move as a
"giant act of
madness."
Mugabe gave ZANU-PF 14 ministries, including
the influential defence, home,
foreign affairs, justice, local government
and media portfolios.
ZANU-PF has also retained control of the army,
police and other state
security apparatus.
The assignment of
ministries was done in terms of Paragraph (a) of
Subsection (1) of Section
31 D of the Constitution which says that the:
(1) The President-
(a) shall
appoint Ministers and may assign functions to such Ministers,
including the
administration of any Act
of Parliament or of any Ministry or department;
and
(b) may appoint Deputy Ministers of any Ministry or department or of such
other description as the President
may determine, and may authorize any
Deputy Minister to exercise or perform
on behalf of a Minister any
of the
functions entrusted to such Minister.
(2) Any person appointed under this
section shall, before entering upon his
office, take and subscribe before
the
President or some other person authorized by the President in that behalf
the oaths of loyalty and office in the forms
set out in Schedule
1.
(3) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution and any Act of
Parliament, where any Minister has been
charged with responsibility for
any Ministry or department he shall exercise
general direction and control
over that
Ministry or department and, subject to such direction and control,
any such
Ministry shall be under the supervision of
a Secretary.
(4)
During his tenure of office, no Minister or Deputy Minister shall
directly
or indirectly hold any other public
office or any paid office in the
employment of any person.
The shock announcement came just hours after
negotiators for Mugabe, main
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the
Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) party and the head of a splinter MDC
group urged former South African
president Thabo Mbeki to once again resolve
the latest deadlock.
The Mbeki-brokered power-sharing pact was signed on
September 15. It came
after the ruling party lost control of parliament in
March elections for the
first time and Mugabe's re-election in a
controversial second round
boycotted by Tsvangirai.
Mbeki will head
for Zimbabwe Monday on a new mediation bid, his spokesman
said.
"He's
continuing with the mediation process," Mukoni Ratshitanga said.
"We're
going to Zimbabwe on Monday to discuss those very matters that are
holding
up the operationalisation of the power-sharing deal."
The MDC said
Saturday's cabinet line-up was the "product of unilateral,
contemptuous and
outrageous machinations," stressing that only informal
talks had been held
on Friday on the break-up of posts but no decision
taken.
"In fact,
it is a giant act of madness which puts the whole deal into
jeopardy," it
said," stressing that the ruling party on Friday "wanted to
take the
ministries of finance, home affairs, local government and foreign
affairs
from the MDC."
The ruling party "cannot nocturnally allocate ministries
barely hours after
the three principals agreed to disagree by referring the
matter to the
mediator after a logjam over all key ministries," an MDC
statement said.
Tsvangirai's MDC has been given 13 portfolios, including
constitutional and
parliamentary affairs, economic planning and investment
promotion, labour
and social welfare, sport, arts and culture and science
and technology
development.
A splinter opposition grouping led by
Arthur Mutambara will be in charge of
education, regional integration and
international co-operation and industry
and commerce, the report
added.
The latest impasse adds to Zimbabwe's woes which today is a far
cry from its
position 20 years ago when it was hailed as a model economy and
a regional
breadbasket.
The economy is in tatters since 2000 when
Mugabe seized white-owned farms
and handed them over to landless blacks,
often with no farming skills. Its
inflation rate soared to 231 million
percent in July, the world's highest.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa urged
fresh regional mediation to end the
ruinous political crisis, which has
added to the plight of citizens
grappling with acute shortages of food and
basic goods and a freefalling
currency.
"There is a deadlock and it
can only be broken through SADC (the Southern
African Development Community)
and its appointed mediator, Mbeki," he said.
"If you look at the list
it's as good as running the government by
themselves," Chamisa
added.
But some urged the MDC to accept the spoils in the country's best
interests.
"Zimbabweans are suffering and the MDC can use the ministries
allocated to
them to do what they can to improve the lot of Zimbabweans and
rally the
people to their cause," said Takavafira Zhou, a political
scientist.
"Pulling out would be futile. If they pull out they would have
to employ
another strategy but what strategy can they use when ZANU-PF is in
control
of the army and the police?"
The following ministerial
allocations were discussed but not concluded in the deliberations of the three
principals when they met on Friday, except that Zanu PF wanted to take the
ministries of Finance, Home Affairs, Local Government and Foreign Affairs from
the MDC. This list, contrary to the one published by The Herald, captures
the general understanding during the deliberations. MDC-T ZANU-PF MDC-M 1. Finance 2. Economic planning 3. Home Affairs 4. Foreign Affairs 5. Justice and Legal Affairs 6. Local Government 7. Health and Child Welfare 8. Education 9. Energy and power
Development 10. Media & Information
Publicity 11. Labour and Social Welfare 12. Women, Gender and Community
Development 13. Environment, Natural Resources and
Tourism 1. Defence 2. Lands, Agriculture and Resettlement
3. Mines and Mineral
Development 4. Parliamentary and Constitutional
Affairs 5. Youth Development and
Indigenization 6. Higher and Tertiary
Education 7. Public Service 8. National Housing and Social
Amenities 9. Public Works 10. Water Resources, Development and
Management 11. Information and Communication
Technology 12. State Enterprises and
Parastatals 13. Transport 14. Small and Medium
Enterprises 15. Prisons and Correctional
Services 1. Science and Technology
development 2. Regional Integration and International
Cooperation 3. Industry and Commerce
ministries, which is a betrayal of the wishes, expectations
and
aspirations of the majority of Zimbabweans.
The Herald-published
list of ministries is a product of unilateral,
contemptuous and outrageous
machinations by Zanu PF. In fact, it is a
giant act of madness which puts the
whole deal into jeopardy. Zanu PF
cannot nocturnally allocate ministries
barely hours after the three
principals agreed to disagree by referring the
matter to the mediator
after a logjam over all key ministries.
Zanu
PF's ploy is to pre-empt the visit of the mediator and any
attempt by SADC to
try and help Zimbabweans locate exit points to the
current
impasse.
For the past week, Zanu PF has been performing its usual
propaganda
rituals to lull the nation into believing that there was progress.
The
idea was to manage and prepare the nation for this barbaric
ambush.
The MDC did not append its signature to a Zanu PF power-grabbing
deal
but to a power sharing deal. The people of Zimbabwe are aware that
we
entered into dialogue with a sincere desire to resolve the
national
crisis. This brazen power-grab as reflected in the gazetted
ministries
cannot in any way be a result of a genuine power-sharing
agreement.
Zanu PF has waylaid and mugged the people's desire to see a
new
government put in place which would solve the endemic problems
of
starvation, clean water, housing, better health care and
education.
The elite in Zanu PF is not interested in addressing the
current
challenges in the country. Instead, they are obsessed with
power
retention at all costs.
We reject the attempt by Zanu PF to get
the MDC into office but
without power. We derive our legitimacy and mandate
from the people of
Zimbabwe, not Zanu PF who were rejected by the very same
people on 29
March. It is ridiculous that after having lost the election,
Zanu PF,
the loser, proceeds to allocate peripheral ministries to the MDC,
the
winner. This act of perfidy is a negation of the spirit
of
rapproachment and good will that should characterize any
meaningful
power-sharing arrangement.
The MDC believes that Mr Mugabe,
who lost the election on 29 March,
cannot arrogate upon himself the right to
unilaterally allocate
ministries outside the framework of the dialogue
process.
We condemn Zanu PF's undermining of efforts by SADC and the
African
Union in trying to resolve the challenges confronting our
country.
All good Zimbabweans have a duty to stand up and be counted
in
defending that which is good about our country and stop the Zanu
PF
madness.
In light of the latest developments, the MDC calls on the
mediator,
SADC, the AU and the international community at large to help
support
and protect Zimbabweans against the run-away and galloping
power
appetite of the minority Zanu PF leadership.
Hon Nelson
Chamisa, MP
Secretary for Information and Publicity
4 hours ago
JOHANNESBURG
(AFP) - Former South African president Thabo Mbeki is to go to
Zimbabwe
Monday on a new mediation bid, a spokesman said Saturday, as a
power-sharing
deal he brokered ran into new trouble.
"He's continuing with the
mediation process," Mbeki spokesman Mukoni
Ratshitanga said after reports
that Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe had
unilaterally allocated control of
the main ministries to his ZANU-PF party.
A list published in the
state-owned daily The Herald gave Mugabe's party 14
ministries including the
key portfolios of defence, home, foreign affairs
and justice.
The
report prompted outrage from the rival Movement for Democratic Change,
whose
leader Morgan Tsvangirai had called for mediators to resolve a
deadlock in
talks on sharing out government posts.
"We're going to Zimbabwe on Monday
to discuss those very matters that are
holding up the operationalisation of
the power-sharing deal", Ratshitanga
said.
Mugabe had agreed on
Friday to allow in outside mediation in a bid to break
the four-week
deadlock over cabinet posts in a new unity government of the
former ruling
ZANU-PF with Tsvangirai's MDC and a splinter faction headed by
Arthur
Mutambara.
An MDC spokesman said that the September 15 deal brokered by
Mbeki as a
mediator for the regional Southern African Development Community
was in
"jeopardy" following Mugabe's "contemptuous" decision.
MDC
spokesman Nelson Chamisa said Tsvangirai would not sign up to the
government
list as published in the state media.
The sides have met several times
with the MDC arguing that it should take
the lion's share of power as it won
control of parliament and most votes in
a first round of presidential
elections in March.
Tsvangirai pulled out of the second round after
mounting violence against
his supporters, leaving Mugabe to retain the
presidency.
Mbeki, who was toppled as South African president last month,
has been
widely accused in the past of being too soft on Mugabe, 84, who has
led the
former British colony uninterrupted since independence in
1980.
However the MDC, which at one stage called for Mbeki to be replaced
as
mediator, now sees him as key to persuading Mugabe and his cohorts to
release their grip on power.
http://www.apanews.net
APA-Harare
(Zimbabwe) Zimbabwe's Prime Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai
will
address a rally in Harare on Sunday which will be the first real test
of the
effectiveness of a power-sharing agreement signed with President
Robert
Mugabe in September.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
said in a statement
released on Friday night that the opposition leader
would "unpack the
character and substance of the political deal" at the
rally at Zimbabwe
Grounds in the Harare low-income suburb of
Highfield.
The opposition leader has until now been barred from holding
rallies, with
the police citing security fears.
His last rally in
Harare on June 22 was disrupted by ruling party militias
who chased his
supporters from the Harare Showgrounds, prompting Tsvangirai
to withdraw
from the June 27 presidential election run-off against President
Mugabe.
Zimbabwe Grounds evokes memories of a March 11, 2007 incident
when riot
police stopped a prayer meeting organized by the civil society at
the same
venue and brutally assaulted and tortured senior opposition
officials,
including Tsvangirai.
The incident proved to be the
turning point in an eight-year hostile
relationship between Mugabe and
Tsvangirai as it led southern African
leaders to dispatch former South
African president Thabo Mbeki to mediate in
the political
crisis.
Mbeki's mediation gave birth to last month's power-sharing deal
between the
two Zimbabwean political foes under which Tsvangirai becomes
prime
minister-designate.
Since the deal, a three-week impasse over
the allocation of key ministries
has stalled the announcement of a unity
government.
JN/ad/APA 2008-10-11
africasia
HARARE, Oct 11 (AFP)
Zimbabwe is to unveil a new 50,000-dollar banknote
next week, the central
bank said Saturday, as the country grapples with the
world's highest
inflation rate.
Announcing the introduction of the
new banknote hardly a fortnight after a
20,000-dollar banknote, the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe said in a statement the
move was "for your convenience with
effect from October 13, 2008."
The banknote is worth five US dollars on
the parallel market and 294 dollars
at the official rate, and is enough for
three loaves of bread.
Zimbabwe's inflation rate soared to 231 million
percent in July, the world's
highest.
Once hailed as a model economy
and a regional breadbasket, Zimbabwe's
economy has collapsed over the past
decade with high inflation and shortages
of basic foodstuffs like sugar and
cooking oil.
The majority of the population lives below the poverty
threshold.
The southern African nation is also suffering from foreign
exchange and fuel
shortages.
The government blames the country's
economic meltdown on sanctions imposed
by Britain and other Western nations,
while critics fault President Robert
Mugabe's chaotic land reform programme
as one of the main causes.
To keep pace with the rising costs, shops
sometimes change the prices of
goods more than twice a day while long
meandering queues have become a
familiar sight at banks as depositors seek
to withdraw cash which is rapidly
losing its value.
The currency,
once on a par with the British pound, is in freefall and
unemployment is a
staggering 80 percent.
The government has tried several measures --
including price controls and
striking off 10 zeros from the country's
currency -- to try to rein in
galloping inflation.
Last month the
central bank gave some shops licences to sell goods in
foreign currency in a
bid to ease shortages which are fuelling the black
market.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Saturday, 11 October 2008 07:06
JOHANNESBURG:DESPITE
Zimbabwe's political parties remaining
deadlocked, prominent political
analyst John Makumbe said it was a move in
the right direction towards
resolving Zimbabwe's decade-long political and
economic
crisis.
Makumbe said this in Johannesburg on Friday where he
took part in a
workshop titled "The Impact of Democracy in Zimbabwe and
Malawi" where the
democratic principles of the two southern African nations
came under immense
scrutiny.
"The power sharing agreement that
was signed recently by ZANU (PF) and
the two MDC parties and brokered by
Thabo Mbeki may not be perfect but it is
a step in the right direction. We
should put into consideration that there
has been so much pain among
Zimbabweans over the years, therefore a
compromise had to be reached," said
Makumbe, a professor at the University
of Zimbabwe.
Speakers at
the conference concurred that the parties should find
common ground so as to
pave way for the reconstruction of the crisis-torn
southern African
country.
Zimbabwe's warring parties comprising Zanu PF and the two
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) formations recently signed a
power-sharing deal that
former South African President, Thabo Mbeki
brokered.
However, this has taken a knock as the MDC and ZANU (PF)
leaders on
Friday have failed to reach an agreement over the allocation of
some key
cabinet posts.
In the meantime, the country's economic
problems continue. Inflation
has reached 213million percent while a shortage
of basic commodities,
rampant poverty and high levels of poverty have
exacerbated the situation
--CAJ News.
http://voanews.com
By Tendai Maphosa
Harare
09 October 2008
Education used to be a top
priority for Zimbabwe's government. But as Tendai
Maphosa reports from
Harare, the country's economic and political crisis is
taking a heavy toll
on the education system.
Under normal circumstances, junior school
children should have started
writing their final year examinations this
week. But this year is different,
the exams will take place at the end of
the month.
The Herald daily newspaper, a government mouthpiece, blames
the delay on the
Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council - also known as
ZIMSEC, the body tasked
with the organization of examinations. The newspaper
describes it as the
latest in a series of gaffes by the
council.
Ladistous Zunde of the Progressive Teacher's Union of Zimbabwe
sees it as
just another symptom of a dysfunctional education system. He says
the blame
lies squarely on the shoulders of the government.
"ZIMSEC
is not operating from a vacuum, they cannot operate without funding,
they
cannot operate without technical assistance and ever since they have
been in
existence, they have not been able to get enough resources."
Zunde adds
that while government seems not to have problems looking after
its army and
the police, the same cannot be said for teachers. The poor pay
they get has
led to many strikes.
During the violent election campaign earlier this
year, he says, teachers
were targeted for allegedly supporting the
opposition. As a result of that
and the poor remuneration, many teachers
have left the country, sought
alternative employment or simply stayed at
home because they cannot afford
the commute to work.
Zunde tells VOA
even those teachers still working are not sure how much they
earn.
"If you look at last month-end - two weeks ago - a primary
school was given
12,000, and two days ago was given another 60- to- 90,000
dollars, which
really is shameful," he said.
A loaf of bread costs at
least 10,000 Zimbabwean dollars. The latest
official inflation figure is 231
million percent.
VOA spoke to UNICEF Communication Officer Tsitsi Singizi
who says her group
has surveyed the Zimbabwe education system and the
results are disturbing.
"Trends are indicating that only 40 percent of
the teachers are attending
lessons, a third of the pupils are not going to
school for various reasons -
one of them being that teachers are not there -
and the exam system is total
disarray," she said. "It seems as if the sector
is tottering on the brink of
collapse and as UNICEF we are really
worried."
But Singizi says despite the harsh economic climate and the
resultant
increase in the dropout rate, Zimbabwean parents will do anything
to keep
their children in school. She says if the economic decline is
arrested, the
infrastructure rehabilitated and teachers get fair
remuneration the sector
could bounce back.
When he came to power in
1980, president Robert Mugabe embarked on a massive
exercise to educate
Zimbabweans. Schools were built all over the country and
teachers were
trained to man them. This resulted in Zimbabwe having the
highest adult
literacy rate in Africa, according to U.N. figures. But that
achievement is
now at risk.
http://voanews.com
By Patience Rusere
Washington
09 October 2008
Some observers of the
stop-start power-sharing process in Zimbabwe, which
Movement for Democratic
Change founder and prime minister-in-waiting Morgan
Tsvangirai declared to
be on hold Thursday pending intervention of a
mediator, should be considered
as no more than a bridge to another and more
decisive round of national
elections.
Twenty-four days after the long-ruling ZANU-PF party of
President Robert
Mugabe and both formations of the MDC subscribed to a
power-sharing accord
on Sept. 15, the cabinet for the envisioned national
unity government has
yet to be named - not to mention the passage through
parliament of the
necessary enabling constitutional amendment.
No
surprise, then, that some in Zimbabwe and abroad are beginning to wonder
if
power-sharing will take hold in Harare or if the country will continue
its
downward slide beset by hyperinflation last officially measured at 231
million percent and hunger widespread.
For an assessment of the
power-sharing process, reporter Patience Rusere of
VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe turned to National Constitutional Assembly
Chairman Lovemore
Madhuku and Africa Policy Institute President Peter
Kagwanja in Pretoria,
South Africa.
Madhuku said the deadlock was an early warning sign that
power-sharing is
doomed to fail. The two agreed that only another round of
elections can
resolve the national crisis.
From Everton, South
Africa, Studio 7 listener Norman Mashumi said ZANU-PF
and the MDC must put
their differences aside to ensure power-sharing does
not fail. From Tafara,
Harare, Tee Vee said he is skeptical MDC-ZANU-PF
power-sharing can work,
noting that conditions for ordinary Zimbabweans are
fast deteriorating while
the politicians bicker.
http://voanews.com
By Jonga
Kandemiiri
Washington
09 October
2008
Chronic and severe cash shortages in Zimbabwe have
resulted in an industrial
dispute at the Renco Gold Mine in the country's
Masvingo province, where
sources said 20 workers have been dismissed for
striking this week over late
payment of their wages.
About 500
workers went on strike on Monday and Tuesday after the mine's
management did
not pay September salaries on time due to the shortage of
bank notes which
has plagued consumers and businesses across the country for
months, and
worsened recently.
Sources among the workers said some of those who
struck were served with
suspension letters on Wednesday and told not to
leave their residences in
the mine compound until their cases were been
heard. The labor sources said
workers were brought before a disciplinary
committee which reprimanded some
and dismissed about 20 others.
Mine
sources said management has also ceased to provide staple maize meal to
workers.
Renco Mine is owned by Rio Tinto Zimbabwe, whose manager,
Aaron Mudhuwiwa
declined to comment without written questions, which VOA
declines to
provide.
A dismissed worker who requested anonymity told
reporter Jonga Kandemiiri
that workers brought up before the disciplinary
committee were denied
representation by their union.
http://voanews.com
By
Carole Gombakomba
Washington
09 October
2008
Inflation soared to an annual rate of 231 million
percent in July, the State
run-Herald newspaper on Thursday quoted the
country's Central Statistical
Office as saying, a huge leap from the
official June inflation rate which
was given as 11.2 million
percent.
But independent economists in Zimbabwe and abroad say the
figures do not
reflect an economic reality in which the cost of living is
soaring
astronomically.
U.S economist Steven Hanke, an expert on
hyperinflation who has consulted to
countries on stabilizing prices,
recently estimated that inflation hit 531
billion percent in September,
while Zimbabwean economist John Robertson
reckoned it ran at some 26 billion
percent.
Robertson told reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe
that such mind-boggling estimates and projections accurately
reflect what
could come to pass if there is no government in place soon to
launch an
economic stabilization program.
http://www.cathybuckle.com
Saturday 11th October 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
The
October clouds are gathering over Zimbabwe and darkening skies tease us
with
promises of rain every afternoon. Its a brutally hard time of year.
Searing
heat, scorched ground and a desperate shortage of water makes it
almost
impossible to keep anything going. And yet, as the clouds get darker,
heavier and lower the time of renewal is almost upon us and the signs of the
new season are all around us.
Bright yellow weaver birds with deep
black face masks are busy weaving
strips of grass into intricate nests which
they hang upside down from and
try and attract mates. A strand out of place,
one disdainful glance or
dismissive peck at the nest from a female and the
male pulls the whole thing
apart and starts all over again. The Paradise
flycatchers are back too,
flitting around showing off their magnificent,
foot long, burnt orange tails
and building shallow little cups for nests
with grass, roots and bits of
spiderweb.
It seems absurd to be
writing about the weather and birds when we've got no
food, fuel or
government and inflation's hit 231 MILLION percent, but its
these routines
of nature that help take our minds off the insanity of life
in Zimbabwe.
It's the time of year when there should be a frenzy of activity
in
preparation for the rains and food growing. Seed and fertilizer should be
stacked up in sheds waiting to go out to the lands. Tractors should be
ploughing and the lands readied but without the inputs it's not happening.
In my home town a large, shiny, 4 wheel drive, red tractor, still with
plastic on its fenders, roars around on the main tar roads carrying
passengers on errands
I had three questions in mind when I phoned
around the main agricultural
suppliers in my farming home town this week:
Have you got seed maize; how
much is it; can I pay in Zimbabwe dollars? I
knew I was being optimistic
because just a week ago it was reported that
there was only enough seed in
the country to plant 360 thousand hectares of
land. Zimbabwe apparently has
to plant at least one million hectares in
order to feed itself.
My phone calls were a waste of time. There is no
seed maize to buy, not in
Zim Dollars or American dollars and we are just a
couple of weeks away from
the main planting season. I asked one main farming
supplier when they were
expecting a delivery of seed maize and he laughed
and said he didn't think
any of their seed orders were going to come at
all.
This is such a critical time in Zimbabwe when almost half the
population
needs food aid and yet, even in their hunger, people are still
desperate to
try and help themselves. "We need seed!" is the cry everywhere
you go. Our
old and our new leaders are still too busy arguing about power
to hear our
calls. Another month has been wasted when these Big Men could,
should have
stood together; seed and fertilizer could have been bought,
fields ploughed
and every able bodied man and woman readied to bring life
and food security
back to Zimbabwe. Many people are saying that neither Zanu
PF nor the MDC
deserve to be in power if they cannot even help us to help
ourselves at this
most desperate time.
Until next time, thanks for
reading, love cathy
Elephant Conservation In Zimbabwe
Introduction
Elephant conservation remains one of Zimbabwe’s main success stories. Of
late due to reason beyond our comprehension this conservation initiative is
under spotlight with varied opinions being expressed. This is manifesting itself
in form of various misconceptions about the state of elephant conservation in
Zimbabwe, including accusations of staff involvement in
poaching.
The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority therefore
wishes to set the record straight by informing our valued stakeholders of the
elephant management programmes on the ground to hopefully stop all the
misinformation that is doing the rounds.
Elephant Population Status
The current national population is about 100,000 with an average
growth rate of 5% and of this Hwange National Park and its environs alone hold
about 50,000 while Mid-Zambezi Valley, Sebungwe and the South East Lowveld hold
30,000, 15,000 and 5,000 respectively. These figures are based on aerial surveys
undertaken jointly by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
Utilization: non consumptive and
consumptive
There are two programmes for the sustainable utilization of
elephants in the country : (i)
non-consumptive (photographic, elephant rides) and (ii) consumptive (trophy hunting and management off-take). Consumptive utilization is all based on an
approved quota with the exception of problem animal control which is
responsive to rogue animals whose numbers annually cannot be predicted.
There is also a deliberate policy to carry out these programmes
i.e. consumptive and non consumptive, in
isolation of each other recognizing the different clientele ethics involved.
Trophy hunting which annually utilises 500 animals that are declared to CITES each
year as 1000 tusks to allow for exportation of trophies takes place in
designated places as follows:
· State hunting safari
areas 145 animals
· Private land mainly
conservancies 115 animals
· CAMPFIRE in communal
areas 210 animals and
· Forestry areas 30
animals
No trophy hunting takes
place in National Parks which include Hwange, Gonarezhou, Chizarira, Mana Pools,
Matusadona, Kazuma Pan, Zambezi where elephants are
found.
The management off take, unlike trophy hunting, takes place in any protected area where
elephants occur including the national parks stated above and involves both
trophy and non trophy animals but the trophies are not for export in any
way. The ivory from such an initiative ends up in central ivory stores at
the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority Head Quarters properly recorded with
a distinct serial number, area of origin, cause and date of mortality and size
(length and weight). In order not to change the population structure (age and
sex) management off takes are not
selective such that trophy animals are also taken but as stated above their
ivory is not for export in its raw form. It is sold on the domestic market
through regular auctions to registered ivory manufacturers in line with 1997
CITES COP 10 Resolution which allowed Zimbabwe to engage in highly controlled
domestic ivory trade.
Management off takes are for ecological reasons to manage surplus
animals since elephants at very high densities as is our situation have a high
propensity to destroy the very habitat that is the basis for their survival. As
they destroy the habitat they also pose serious loss of other
biodiversity.
At the moment in Zimbabwe the management off take is utilised for training, staff rations,
support for state and other functions, sale to crocodile farmers and where
possible live sales for restocking. Meat is also sold cheaply or given freely to
communities to supplement their protein
requirements.
The management off take involves an approved quota country wide of
1000 animals representing approximately 1% of the population as compared to the
5% annual growth rate stated above. This implies that this off take has no
effect whatsoever on the elephant population. Moreover over the years we have never
harvested even half of the approved quota.
In April 2007 prior to CITES COP 14 in The Hague SADC Ministers
responsible for Wildlife Management approved the Southern Africa Elephant
Management Strategy which recognises
culling as one of the main tools for effective population control. However,
in the event that the Authority needs to undertake culling, all the political,
ecological and other considerations including thorough stakeholder consultations
would have been met.
At the moment and in preparation for a possible requirement to
control elephant population through culling the Authority has embarked on a training exercise for its
staff thorough engaging some experienced professional hunters using part of this
management quota. This training involves hunting, recovery and processing of
elephant products and gathering of scientific data.
However it appears that this training process has not gone down
very well with some of our stakeholders resulting in the perception that trophy
hunting for commercial purposes is taking place in National Parks. Furthermore
accusations of rampart poaching or complicity in poaching by staff have also
arisen resulting in staff frustration and low morale.
In response the Authority has deemed it fit to suspend this
programme with immediate effect to allow for reviewing of lessons leant in line
with adaptive management principles which guide the
Authority.
It is important to state that this programme has to go on as
rations for and training of staff has to be undertaken if we are to meet our
conservation goals. The Authority has also to supply meat to other stakeholders
as stated above.
We invite all
stakeholders with information on poaching by staff or complicity in poaching to
provide such information to the office of the Director General to
facilitate any investigations where necessary.
It is our sincere hope that this statement will enlighten our
valued stakeholders and help correct the perceptions about this programme.
Please do not hesitate to contact us for any further information regarding the
programme.
Dr. M.Z. Mtsambiwa
Director General
Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management
Authority
Box CY 140, Causeway, Harare,
Zimbabwe
Tel: +263 4 705 344, +263 11 870 160, + 263 912 217
405.
Fax: +263 4 790 567
e-mail:
mzmtsambiwa@zimparks.co.zw