Zim Online
Monday 08 January 2007
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe Police
Commissioner Augustine Chihuri has said more than
10 percent of the
country's police officers will quit within the first
quarter of the year,
disgruntled over poor salaries and working conditions.
In a confidential
memo to the Minister of Home Affairs, Kembo Mohadi, dated
January 2, 2007,
Chihuri warned that an attempt to prevent the 3 500 mostly
junior officers
who have tendered resignations from leaving could spark open
rebellion by
the discontented cops who he said held "the government
responsible for their
suffering".
Zimbabwe has an estimated 26 000 police officers who,
together with the
army, are credited with keeping President Robert Mugabe's
government in
power by brutally suppressing dissension in the face of an
economic crisis
that has spawned hyperinflation and shortages of food, fuel,
electricity and
every survival commodity.
"The 3 500 represents the
number of those whose applications have been
approved, after they put in
three months' notices of their intentions to
leave.
This is a
culmination of failed efforts by the junior members to have their
salaries
reviewed upwards in line with the country's inflation rate," said
Chihuri in
a two-page memo simply titled: Matter of Concern.
All officers whose
letters of resignation had so far been accepted will have
left by between
January 31 and March 31, Chihuri said. But the Police
Commissioner added
more letters of resignation were streaming in from
officers with some giving
only up to two weeks notice to quit their jobs.
"Trying to stop the
junior members from leaving has failed in the past and
we cannot try it now,
as it will only fuel rebellion within the junior
members, who hold the
government responsible for their suffering," Chihuri
added in the memo, a
copy of which was shown to ZimOnline.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena
said he was not aware of Chihuri's memo
but confirmed officers were
resigning for what he described as "various
reasons" including old age. "As
an organisation we do not stand in the way
of anyone who wants to leave
because they are not forced to work in the
police force," said
Bvudzijena.
Mohadi would not specifically discuss Chihuri's memo but he
insisted that
the police force was affected by the economic crisis just like
any other
organization in the country and therefore it was normal that some
of its
members would quit to take up better paying jobs elsewhere.
He
added: "We are still going to recruit more officers though. I cannot
reveal
much on the numbers and dates of those that are quitting because it
is a
sensitive matter of national security."
But the exodus of officers is
clear indication of increasing desperation in
a key security organ that
should be greatly worrying to Mugabe and his
ruling ZANU PF party especially
as sources told ZimOnline that lower ranking
soldiers who earn the same
salaries as junior police were also quitting in
droves.
"Most of the
boys leaving the army just abscond without giving proper notice
and many of
them leave to join private security firms in neighbouring
countries,
particularly in Botswana and South Africa," a captain at the army's
KG VI
headquarters said.
No official comment on reports that junior soldiers
were deserting could be
immediately obtained from the Zimbabwe Defence
Forces headquarters in
Harare.
Political analysts rule out the
possibility of well-paid top army generals
staging a coup against Mugabe's
decades-old government.
But they have always speculated that worsening
hunger and economic hardships
could at some point force the underpaid
ordinary soldier and police officer
to either openly revolt or to simply
refuse to defend the government should
Zimbabweans rise up in a civil
rebellion. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Monday 08 January 2007
HARARE - Zimbabwe's Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa on Sunday threatened
to crack down on opposition-led
protests which the government says are aimed
at ousting President Robert
Mugabe from power.
Chinamasa, considered one of the hawks in the Harare
administration, said
the government would not fold its hands while the
opposition broke the law.
"We are a democracy and we allow any show of
resentment as long as laid down
procedures are followed. But if they
(opposition) decide to take the law
into their hands, as a government we
will not sit down and watch them as
they try to please their Western
masters," said Chinamasa.
Chinamasa spoke in reaction to a statement at
the weekend by the president
of the smaller faction of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party,
Arthur Mutambara, in which he threatened to
organise protests against the
government.
Mutambara, a fiery former
student leader in the early 1980s, said the
opposition should be prepared to
"take the struggle to the streets,
villages, valleys and jails of Zimbabwe,"
raising political temperatures in
the crisis-torn southern African
country.
"We believe that the ideal framework for our struggle in
Zimbabwe is that we
should fight for a people-driven democratic constitution
before any future
elections, followed by an internationally supervised
national plebiscite.
"In 2007, we will pursue this objective by any means
necessary. We will not
respect any unjust and criminal laws. We will not
allow the dictatorship to
prescribe to us how we should fight it.
"We
will set the agenda and determine the arena and instruments of combat .
. .
In addition to participating in electoral and institutional processes we
will embrace all forms of democratic resistance.
"We intend to bring
this regime to its knees. 2007 is the year of the people's
revolution," said
Mutambara in the hard-hitting statement that suggests that
the rift between
the two factions could be bridged to take-on Mugabe.
But Chinamasa said
the MDC's agenda was very clear as it sought to please
its Western
handlers.
"We are prepared to deal with any form of behaviour that
infringes on the
rights of Zimbabweans to peace," added
Chinamasa.
The Zimbabwe government has in the past accused the MDC of
being a front for
Western governments seeking to reverse the gains of
independence. The MDC
denies the charge.
Mutambara's call to take on
Mugabe on the streets is the second time that
the opposition has threatened
to roll out anti-government protests.
Last March, Morgan Tsvangirai, who
heads the larger faction of the MDC, also
promised "a winter of discontent"
to force Mugabe to embrace democracy. But
the protests failed to take off. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Monday 08 January
2007
BULAWAYO - A Zimbabwean man was on
Thursday left with two broken teeth and a
swollen rib after he was brutally
assaulted by four police officers for
wishing President Robert Mugabe hanged
like Saddam.
The police officers, who were on patrol, pounced on Ephraim
Njini at a
nightclub in Bulawayo after he said Mugabe should be hanged like
what
happened to former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein.
Saddam, who
was last year convicted of genocide, was hanged in the Iraqi
capital
Baghdad last Saturday.
Trouble for Njini began after he complained over
rising beer prices which he
blamed on Mugabe.
Njini also accused
Mugabe of committing serious crimes against humanity just
like Saddam over
the 1980s murder of 20 000 Ndebeles in Matabeleland and
Midlands
provinces.
The four police officers then pounced on Njini and assaulted
him with baton
sticks and clenched fists.
Under Zimbabwe's tough
security laws, it is an offence punishable by a
two-year jail term to
denigrate Mugabe.
Njini, who had been detained by the police, was
released on Friday after
paying an admission of guilt fine.
"Even if
I made that remark, it did not give the police permission to beat
me the way
they did. I am in pain, absolute pain and this is not fair," said
Njini
yesterday.
Police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka refused to comment on the
matter saying he
was not aware of the incident. - ZimOnline
The Australian
January 08, 2007
A country is being destroyed by avarice and
ambition
ENEMIES of liberty who argue that democracy is not suited to all
societies
and that US President George W. Bush was wrong in principle as
well as in
practice in fighting to allow Iraqis to choose their rulers
should read RW
Johnson's report on Zimbabwe in The Australian today. The
story shows what
happens when fair elections and open government, as well as
the other
pillars of a just society, free enterprise and equal access to
justice, do
not exist. Johnson reports on how a once prosperous African
nation is
reduced to a wreck, where starvation and brutality are the norm
and the
state treats ordinary people as its enemy. Millions have fled
Zimbabwe, or
died from hunger, disease and violence. Life expectancy is
barely half what
it was 15 years ago, and the economy has shrunk by 40 per
cent this century.
And it is all the work of dictator Robert Mugabe and his
henchmen, who have
entrenched their political power and economic authority
by beggaring and
beating, starving and killing their own people.
As with
Saddam Hussein's Iraq, Mugabe's Zimbabwe is a warning to the world
of what
happens when a state is run as a family or factional fiefdom. As in
Hitler's
Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union, in Zimbabwe the state and the
dictator's
political party are all but amalgamated. Such regimes are not
only immoral,
they are incompetent in governing for the people, because the
needs of the
vast mass of ordinary citizens are always ignored. As in
Cambodia under the
Khmer Rouge, Mugabe has tried to drive the urban poor
into the country by
bulldozing their shanty towns. Every dictator
understands the dangers of
large concentrations of desperate people in
cities. Like the old Soviet
Union under Stalin, Mugabe has taken farmland
from ostensible enemies of the
regime, in this case white farmers, and
handed it over to party loyalists.
In the process, as was the Soviet
experience, he has all but destroyed the
country's rural economy. Not long
ago, Zimbabwe was the bread basket of
southern Africa. Now its citizens stay
and starve or seek bread in South
Africa. Similar to Mao's China, Mugabe is
big on state control of
everything, with plans that destroy the economy.
And, as with all states
where democracy is blighted and official corruption
flourishes, Mugabe
ensures he will not be called to account for his evil
incompetence. He
allows his henchmen to ransack the state. And his regime
rorts elections and
intimidates opponents. There is yet another dictatorship
Mugabe's Zimbabwe
is coming to resemble -- Kim Jong-il's starving police
state in North
Korea.
That Mugabe's dictatorship would be ended by fair elections seems
assured.
But there is no way he will readily submit to such. Nor is it
likely that
the UN would ever act in the interests of the Zimbabwean people
and remove
him. Mugabe enjoys the diplomatic protection of South African
President
Thabo Mbeki, presumably on the principal that African leaders
should stick
together. China is happy to fill the aid and investment vacuum
left by
Western nations. And the prospect of the West removing Mugabe by
military
action is unlikely given the US debacle in Iraq following the
removal of
Saddam. Zimbabwe's best hope is that the 82-year-old Mugabe's
regime will
die with him, or collapse earlier under the weight of its own
incompetence.
Neither are morally acceptable solutions -- but Zimbabwe's
tragedy is being
played out at a time when appeasing or ignoring evil is
politically popular
in many of the countries that have the economic and
military power to do
something about it.
Dear Family and Friends,
Sitting in a glass on my desk are five Flame Lilies.
The water they are
standing in was milky and murky and had a brown sediment
when it came out
of
the tap this week. The flowers are exquisite with
frilled, scarlet petals
edged
in yellow and spear shaped leaves tipped
with thin curling tendrils. Flame
Lilies are synonymous with Christmas and
New Year in Zimbabwe and this year
they
are almost the only thing
bringing colour and cheer to our deteriorating
situation.
This New
Year most Zimbabweans are not saying Happy New Year they are
instead
shaking their heads and asking : how much longer, is there any
hope? Just a
week
into 2007 and everyone is reeling at the massive price
increases of
everything.
Despite all the government pronouncements and
promises of an "economic
turnaround," Father Christmas did not deliver this
elusive gift. Before
Christmas a loaf of bread was 295 dollars, now it is 850
dollars - the
bakers
say its still not enough to cover their costs and
more rises are imminent..
(Add
three zeroes to get the real price!)
Petrol, which continues to be mostly
non
existent, has apparently
increased from 2200 to 3000 dollars a litre and
transport costs are said to
have gone up by 60%. Since the government
announced
new price controls
and began arresting businessmen before Christmas, almost
all
basic
essentials have disappeared from the shelves. It is now virtually
impossible
to find sugar, flour, milk, margarine, cooking oil or maize meal
in
supermarkets. In one large wholesaler this week there were three great
long
aisles just filled from floor to ceiling with salt. Fine salt, coarse
salt,
bulk
salt - you name it, there it was, just salt. All the oil,
flour, sugar and
maize
meal normally stacked there, had completely
disappeared - turned to salt.
I stood next to a young teenage girl
looking at the school writing exercise
books piled on one shelf. When
children go back to school in a few days time
they have to provide their own
writing books. Most senior school children
need
15 exercise books and
they are now just over 1000 dollars each. The girl
next to
me picked up a
pack of ten books, turned it over, looked at me, shook her
head
and said
'eeeish' - and put the books back on the shelf. 'I don't have
enough'
she
whispered and walked away.
It is tragic to see bright young teenagers
struggling to stay in school like
this. They know that if they can't, it
won't be long before they are forced
into
vegetable vending, begging and
prostitution because there are very few jobs
for
qualified people and no
jobs for school drop outs.
School fees for this girl were three thousand
dollars last term in a rural
government school. This term her fees are
fifteen thousand dollars. That
cost is
the tip of the iceberg. Her
exercise books will cost another fifteen
thousand
dollars and the plain
soft black tennis shoes she can get away with wearing
are
fourteen
thousand dollars.
This first week of 2007 it is hard to see how the
systems can hold together
for
very much longer. Water is close to
collapse, electricity workers are
striking
for 1000% pay rises and junior
doctors have been striking for over a
fortnight.
I close with a quote
from a letter from a friend which is appropriate for us
all
at the start
of the EIGHTH year of Zimbabwe's decline: "Will we be able to
look
our
children in the eye one day in the future and say truthfully 'we did
our
best' for Zimbabwe?" I hope so. Until next week, thanks for reading, love
cathy.
Copyright cathy buckle 6th January 2007
http://africantears.netfirms.com
The Zimbabwean singer Viomak was
a welcome presence at the Vigil - in fact
almost indispensable. What with
one thing and another only a few people
managed to get to the Embassy in
time for the start. The one thing being
the persistent rain and the other
being the delays on road and rail for our
supporters. But Viomak, all the
way from Leeds, managed to join us as we
struggled to erect our tarpaulin.
Her new CD is due to come out next
month - "Happy 83rd Birthday President
R.G Mugabe (Zimbabwe Classics 2)
Bones of a 30 Year Old." We played it most
of the afternoon. Viomak was
glad to be at the Vigil with other activists
and promised to come back. As
she says on her website "As long as we neglect
the welfare of the
Zimbabweans who are suffering under Mugabe's evil regime
we remain as
immoral as the perpetrators of our suffering" -
(http://www.viomakcharitymusic.com).
We
were pleased to welcome a group from Wolverhampton, who on this
climatically- challenged day took over 4 hours to reach us. We applaud
their dedication. We also had a group from Crawley and people from
Leicester and Derby who had similar nightmare journeys. Watching the water
cascading from the bulging tarpaulin, one of our supporters said "Zimbabwe's
true wonder is back" referring to the rather strange new poster with that
slogan advertising the Victoria Falls in the Embassy window (where did it
go - Zambia, South Africa?). Despite the bad weather, it was encouraging
that so many people stopped at the Vigil table to express their support. By
the end we could hardly fit under our tattered tarpaulin but the drumming
and dancing alleviated the gloom.
PS: one of supporters won £20,
which she donated to the Vigil, by betting on
a winning horse called
Zimbabwe (1.50 pm, Exeter, New Year's Day). Is this
a good omen for
2007?
PPS: we have done some research on Vigil attendance since we
started keeping
records in February 2004. Total number of supporters
attending per annum has
gone up from around 400 in 2004 to nearly 900 in
2006. Average attendance
has increased from 31 people per Vigil in 2004 to
61 people per Vigil in
2006. The Vigil prize of sadza on toast goes to any
mathematician who can
calculate when Vigil attendance will go up to more
Zimbabweans at the Vigil
than in Zimbabwe.
For this week's Vigil
pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/
FOR
THE RECORD: 42 signed the register.
FOR YOUR DIARY:
Monday, 8th
January, 7.30 pm, First Central London Zimbabwe Forum of 2007.
Jenni
Williams of WOZA (Women of Zimbabwe Arise) is the speaker. Monday,
15th
January, 7.30 pm, Forum + MDC Central London Branch Assembly. Upstairs
at
the Theodore Bullfrog pub, 28 John Adam Street, London WC2 (cross the
Strand
from the Zimbabwe Embassy, go down a passageway to John Adam Street,
turn
right and you will see the pub).
Vigil co-ordinator
The Vigil,
outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place
every Saturday
from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of
human rights by
the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in
October 2002 will
continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections are held
in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
From The Sunday Argus (SA), 7 January
In the murky, lawless
world of Zimbabwe, journalist and publisher Trevor
Ncube doesn't know
whether politics or a personal grudge have stripped him
of his Zimbabwe
citizenship. Ncube, owner of the only two independent
newspapers in Zimbabwe
and of the Mail & Guardian in SA, was certainly on a
political list a
year ago when his passport - and those of several other
prominent government
critics - were withdrawn after Zimbabwe's constitution
was changed to allow
the government to withdraw citizens' travel documents.
The government
appeared to retreat after Ncube won a court case and got his
passport back.
Now it has hit back by taking away his Zimbabwean citizenship
and his
passport. Ncube doesn't know if President Robert Mugabe's
securocrats did
that for political reasons or if passport supremo,
registrar-general Tobiawa
Mudede, took the decision to settle a personal
score.
The
official reason given by Mudede is that Ncube failed to renounce his
access
to Zambian citizenship formally when the Zimbabwean law was changed
before
the presidential election in 2002 to make it illegal for Zimbabweans
to hold
dual citizenship or even have access to the citizenship of another
country.
The suspected political motive for the law was to disenfranchise
about a
million voters considered sympathetic to the opposition. Ncube's
father was
born in Zambia so he theoretically had access to Zambian
citizenship. "There
is a bigger political picture in Zimbabwe about which we
know, but there is
also a smaller picture which I have not spoken about in
public before,"
Ncube said in an interview this week. When still editor of
his flagship
Zimbabwe newspaper, The Independent, Ncube published reports of
an
astonishing financial scandal surrounding eccentric businessman Roger
Boka.
Mudede was named in the scandal. He sued The Independent and lost, and
lost
again when he appealed that decision to the Supreme Court. "Mudede said
I
had ruined his career," said Ncube.
When Ncube needed a new passport
urgently in 2002 he sought assistance from
journalist Bornwell Chakaodza who
was friends with Mudede's personal
assistant (PA). "When I got to his
office, the PA said Mudede wanted to see
Chakaodza alone with my passport,"
said Ncube. It didn't go well. "Mudede
fumed at Chakaodza and threw my
passport across the office and said I should
stand outside in the queue like
everyone else. So maybe he is now punishing
me for publishing those
stories." Ncube describes the loss of his
citizenship and passport as "one
of the worst things to have happened in my
life ... the epitome of what is
happening in Zimbabwe". He has again gone to
the High Court but is uncertain
what he will do if he loses the case. Ncube,
now living in Johannesburg,
believes his Zimbabwean newspapers, The
Independent and The Standard, would
continue without him. "I take comfort in
the courage and determination of
the small group of journalists' there, and
their commitment that a new
Zimbabwe is born.
Ncube has never been a citizen of any country but
Zimbabwe. "I can't recall
anyone telling me then (in 2002) that within six
months of getting a
citizenship certificate I also had to formally renounce
my access to Zambian
citizenship." Mudede's cellphone went unanswered this
week. Ncube is not the
only government critic denied citizenship. Among the
more prominent are:
Pensioner Roland Whitehead, who meticulously monitored
the 2002 presidential
election and took accusations of cheating to court to
challenge Mugabe's
victory, was stripped of his citizenship last year while
he was in Zambia.
He now lives on the South Coast with his ailing wife;
Judith Todd, author
and critic of Ian Smith's Rhodesian government. The
daughter of Zimbabwe's
former, New Zealand-born prime minister Garfield
Todd, she failed to
renounce access to New Zealand citizenship, which she
had never claimed.
From Farmer's Weekly (SA), 7 January
By Geoff Hill
Somaliland has become the latest
country offering land to Zimbabwean farmers
looking for a new start. Foreign
minister, Abdulali Duale told Farmers'
Weekly that he was keen to discuss
agri-investment with experienced farmers
from anywhere in the world, "but I
must say we would favour our fellow
Africans, of any colour, because they
have an emotional stake in the
continent." Somaliland has amazed observers
over the past 15 years by
establishing a democratic and tolerant society in
the horn of Africa. The
country achieved independence in 1960 as British
Somaliland and, days later,
merged with the former Italian Somaliland to
form the ill-fated republic of
Somalia. Within a few years, the
English-speaking north sought to regain its
independence, but the
dictatorship of Siad Barre in Mogadishu would not
contemplate separation. A
war of liberation ensued and Barre's troops
committed genocide in the north
and used Russian MiG jets to flatten the
capital, Hargeisa. In 1989, Barre
was overthrown and Somalia collapsed into
civil war. Two years later, the
former British Somaliland became only the
second country in Africa to
proclaim a unilateral declaration of
independence.
Somaliland has
embraced a moderate interpretation of Islam, and women hold
senior positions
in government, commerce and education. Early accounts
written by district
commissioners describe a territory rich in wildlife and
mostly covered in
forest. But years of neglect and deforestation have seen
the loss of most
large mammals and birds, though plans are now afoot to
reintroduce the
Somali ostrich from stock held in Kenya. "There are many
projects waiting to
be developed, to restock our wildlife, open up
commercial farming and
rebuild the forest," Duale said. "I know we are not
one of the glamour
destinations, but we do have a sound democracy and total
commitment to a new
age of commercial farming. I hope some farmers and
conservationists will
come and have a look at our little country." No other
government recognises
Somaliland, but the country's passports are accepted
around the world, and
the African Union has signalled that recognition may
not be far off. "We are
a sovereign state with a great future," Duale said.
"And our government and
people would be honoured to see new immigrants from
southern Africa coming
it to build our farm sector," he said.
From The Sunday Tribune (SA), 7 January
Myrtle Ryan
Shearwater Adventures, which operates several
adventure activities in
Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls area, has reacted strongly
to allegations by the
Zimbabwe SPCA (ZNSPCA) that it is abusing young
elephants being trained to
carry tourists on elephant-back safaris. The
claims include that the
elephants are standing knee-deep in their own dung
in tiny enclosures, and
that they are mistreated and suffering from
dermatitis. Zimbabwe's SPCA is
receiving the backing of South Africa's
National Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA), which is
calling for the return of the
youngsters to the wild. However, the Elephant
Tourism Association - a
sub-division of the Elephant Management and Owners
Association which has
been receiving daily updates on the elephants'
progress - says these claims
have been exaggerated. Co-ordinator for the
association, Greg Vogt, said
that three vets (two Zimbabwean state vets and
a South African) had given
the all clear. "They found no cruelty," said
Vogt, mentioning that the
animals were being closely monitored and managed
in accordance with a
management plan drawn up by the vets, the association
and Shearwater
Adventures. The association will be visiting the site within
the next few
days with one of its experienced operators to get first-hand
information.
According to Vogt, since the issue of the young
elephants was first raised
late last year, the vets have paid three visits
to the facility. Zimbabwean
state vet Dr Chris Foggin has written reports
making several suggestions,
which have been acted upon. Speaking about the
allegation that the elephants
were standing knee-deep in their own dung,
Vogt said, "If it were true, we
would have extracted them immediately".
Allen Roberts of Shearwater
Adventures said the bomas were cleaned on a
daily basis, and fresh sand was
laid. With regard to claims that many of the
elephants had developed
dermatitis, he said only one had a small patch which
was being treated
according to veterinary instructions. The animals' general
condition had
also improved, rather than deteriorated, since their capture.
While animal
welfare groups want the elephants returned to the wild (they
were originally
taken from Hwange National Park), Vogt said elephant experts
disagreed with
this proposal. Subjecting them to yet a further traumatic
move could do more
harm than good. "They also said if they were to be
returned, they would have
to be released at the exact spot where they were
captured and returned to
their own herd."
Roberts pointed out
that the animals had been captured from eight different
herds, many of which
had migrated far from the area with the onset of the
rainy season.
Suggestions that they be released into a neighbouring game
reserve were also
impractical, as it did not have sufficient carrying
capacity. The youngsters
could also come into contact with wild breeding
herds or bachelor bull
herds, while having no herd structure or leadership
themselves. They could
also pose a threat to tourists visiting the reserve.
Roberts expressed
disappointment that the ZNSPCA had filed a police report
charging Shearwater
Adventures with cruelty, as the concern had offered the
organisation's chief
inspector, Glynis Vaughan, unrestricted access to the
animals. The intention
had been to work together to ensure their welfare. On
training methods,
Roberts said this was being done according to standards
prescribed in R B
Martins' Guidelines for Management and Training of
Domestic Animals. These
methods include an approach that encouraged the
elephants to "live a life
similar to that of wild elephants - with the added
feature of a close
relationship with humans". It is a model recognised by
many elephant
experts.
Roberts said the relationship between elephants and their
trainers and
handlers was one based on mutual trust and respect, rather than
on dominance
and breaking of the animal's spirit. Training would not be
rushed for
commercial purposes. According to both Vogt and Roberts, the herd
of 11
older elephants, which have already been domesticated for elephant-
back
safaris, spent free hours foraging in the wild. Had they wanted to run
away
this would have been the ideal opportunity, said Vogt. Roberts believes
the
elephant-back safaris give those who take them an opportunity to
interact
with elephants and hopefully take a greater interest in the
conservation
issues surrounding the animals. Roberts said Shearwater
Adventures was a
reputable concern, which had been doing business for 25
years. It is
establishing a conservation trust, which would ensure that a
portion of its
revenue was ploughed back into conservation and research, he
said. A fund
was also being established to ensure the elephants were cared
for happily in
their retirement.
Sent: Monday, January 08, 2007 5:55 AM
Subject: Re: SHEARWATER - ELEPHANTS -
A response
As a conservationist and a Pro Guide from Zimbabwe
dedicating most of my life to the conservation in Zimbabwe, I find it appalling,
disgusting and an insult to conservation that Shearwater has been allowed and
taken this road to their SO CALLED conservation projects!!
In the past
this idea of taking young elephant calves from their herds during and after
culling operation was practised and after years of this practise it was then
TABOO because of the stress that it causes the calves there after in their
lives, especially as they get to their teenage years! As in a certain Wildlife
Park in South Africa, certain bull elephants (from this back ground of capture)
went on a rampage killing other wildlife around water hole, they had to be
destroyed as the threat they caused both to the future of the wildlife and human
lives.
When the elephant calves are taken from there natural parents
this causes so much stress and trauma in their young lives that stays there to
haunt them later in their years, and not to say at the least the trauma and
stress it has caused the mothers of the calves, which will lead to herds or
single elephant from the herds to go on rampage as they come in contact with
humans at later stages in their lives, not forgetting the stress and trauma they
caused in the past!!
As one knows, elephants roam far and wide in their home
ranges, even moving through farm lands and or inhabited areas. With the stress
that has been caused in the past is a time bomb as one can put it, they may and
will come in contact with humans and WILL remember the past and will protect and
defend themselves. I am sure I don't have to go into detail but this will be the
beginning of a major catastrophe in the future!
I do not believe that
Shearwater is doing this as a conservation project but as an excuse for a way to
full their own pockets with foreign currency.
Using the excuse that it has
created more jobs is sad. Why not use the money spent on the capture of these
poor helpless calves, on creating jobs in the wildlife areas. Employing,
training more scouts/rangers and educating the future generation in wildlife
conservation and managements practices in the communal area.
Training people
to benefit from wildlife through tourism rather than illegal hunting practices
as is happening. Building new Safari Camps and training more Learner and
Professional Guides from the Communal Areas.
This capture of wild baby
elephants would NEVER have been done 10 years ago, but through the corruption in
Zimbabwe at present it is a way that Shearwater has been allowed and chosen to
do this. It is a crying shame that they have taken this route to the future of
their tourism projects. The thought of the stress that the calves are going to
be put through and have endured all ready, has been greatly over looked and/or
ignored.
The so called training that these baby elephants are going to go
through so that people can ride them is cruel and shameful. Certain people had
been exposed in South Africa by 50/50 conservation TV program in their cruel and
sadist methods used to train young elephants destined for the same future as
Shearwaters Baby Elephants.
A concerned Zimbabwean Professional Guide.