Nhema vows to fight for Zimbabwe’s remaining wildlife

The Minister in charge of Zimbabwe’s Environment, Francis Nhema, has urged people not just to politicise issues relating to wildlife but to do more to help the deteriorating situation, after it emerged that ZANU (PF) and other senior government officials are involved in butchering of elephants in Chiredzi River Conservancy (CRC) and Gonarezhou National Parks.

He responded this morning after criticism from Kerry Kay, Secretary for Environment and Climate Change (MDC T), for not showing any muscle to stop the destruction of the environment and wildlife, especially the despicable way in which National Parks Officials have behaved.

I would rather have more animals than human beings - Nhema

Unconfirmed reports say that out of 70 CRC resident elephants, in 2011 alone, only about 40 are accounted for today.

Mr Nhema pinned the blame on greedy individuals working with foreigners going beyond their remit in acting illegally, but environmental campaigners (names withheld) said he is looking for scapegoats and that these destructions were a direct result of ignorance and government orders.

In a telephone interview, from Harare, the soft spoken politician Nhema said that these issues of illegal ivory trade have been raised with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) a number of times but it seems not only Zimbabwe, but Africa is losing to these highly sophisticated military-like operators. “The developed nations are not doing enough to help in this regard as our governments do not always have resources to keep pace with poachers. I would rather have more animals than human beings, they are innocent souls. They don’t know politics at all. What we need is help to separate the two issues, fight and deal with the crime”, he said.


In his statement, scientific support officer at CITES Secretariat based in Geneva, Tom Demeulenaer, reiterated that reports have been received from Zimbabwe but the problem is validating the claims made by the media. “Zimbabwe used to be a leader in environment and wildlife and we are aware that it has lost its standards and hope that will be restored before it is too late”, he said.


CITES has since established Monitoring Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIK), a watchdog based in South Africa. Tapera Chimuti, who heads the Pretoria office could not be reached for comment at the time of writing. But Mr Walter Mzembi, Zimbabwe’s Tourism Minister issued a bold statement in February saying his government was ready to bring perpetrators to justice, whatever their status or affiliation.


“In 2013, Zimbabwe alongside Zambia host the United Nations World Tourism Organisation Assembly in Victoria Falls and any violation of CITES code of conduct will damage its reputation and their drive to promote tourism” said a World Society for Protection of Animals Official in London.