Wildlife sanctuary now a hunting ground
Date:14 August 2004
Source: The Daily Telegraph (UK)
Author: Anon
Harare - Zimbabwe's information minister, Jonathan Moyo, has seized a celebrated African wildlife sanctuary, government documents have shown, and turned it over to hunting. An agriculture department letter shows that Mr Moyo was allocated the conservancy during President Robert Mugabe's land-grab, which began in 2000. The minister has denied taking Sikumi Tree Lodge, one of the biggest prizes on offer under the mass appropriation that has stripped 4,000 white farmers and hundreds of thousands of their workers of their property. The lodge was once a showpiece of eco-tourism and was where the Queen had lunch during the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in 1991. Now it plays host to those willing to pay to shoot rare game. The legal owner of Sikumi Tree Lodge and 45,000 acres of adjoining conservancies that border the Hwange National Park in northern Matabeleland is an ecologist, Thys de Vries, 44. His wife, three children and staff fled after armed men invaded a year ago, according to a complaint lodged by Mr de Vries in court. He is also challenging the seizure of other conservancies by other cabinet ministers and the ruling Zanu PF party's elite.
Mr de Vries said yesterday: "Jonathan Moyo staked out Sikumi Tree Lodge several times before the invasion, but we couldn't prove his involvement until now." A document from the department of agriculture purports to show Mr Moyo's "ownership"' of Sikumi Tree Lodge, via its registered name, Lot 2 of Dete Valley. Mr Mugabe decided earlier this year that he would no longer allow anyone to own more than one farm, although several family members, including his wife, Grace, have ignored him. Mr Moyo is repeatedly accused by his enemies within Zanu PF and opposition parliamentarians of having grabbed more than one formerly white-owned farm. John Nkomo, the lands minister, told local journalists two weeks ago that any (black) man who "occupies" more than one white-owned farm must withdraw. But, in addition to Sikumi Tree Lodge, Mr Moyo said in the state-controlled press recently that he had paid the government about £2,000 for a 1,000-acre farm near Harare. The farm is still legally owned by the estate of Tom Bayley, a Briton. Mr Bayley, 88, was under siege in his homestead from Mr Mugabe's supporters for 35 days before he fell and broke a leg and abandoned the farm he had worked for 66 years. He died a week later.
At the height of Zimbabwe's tourist boom, Sikumi Tree Lodge earned up to £3,000 a month, though tourism has collapsed in recent years. It appears that those now running it are making up the shortfall by letting in hunters. Mr Mugabe's supporters control most hunting licences and sell quotas of trophy animals to safari operators. The Wildlife Association of Zimbabwe has said the quotas are unsustainable and threaten cheetah, leopard and lion populations. A South African company, Out of Africa, takes hunters to Mr de Vries's land. One of his partners was there this week with a group of about 10 Canadians. Mr de Vries said: "The animals are being slaughtered there." Mr Moyo was not available. He was appointed to Mr Mugabe's cabinet in 2000 and drafted media laws widely regarded as among the world's most repressive. Many journalists have been beaten, arrested and deported under the provisions of his Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
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Jonathan Moyo in multi billion dollar poaching scandal
Date: 20 August 2004
Source: The Daily News Online Edition
Author: Anon
The Zimbabwe Conservation Trust Fund (ZCTF) has implicated President Mugabe's spokesman Information Minister Jonathan Moyo in a multi-billion dollar poaching scheme that involves illegal South African hunters. Johnny Rodrigues, the chairman of the ZCTF, an independent wildlife conservation watchdog said Moyo and other settlers had allowed South African hunters to poach wildlife in the Matetsi area, near Hwange National Park. The animals' products were worth billions of dollars and would be sold mainly to the Asian market, although some locally based Chinese also bought them for illegal export to their country. Moyo grabbed a 32-bed lodge known as Sikumi, which also encompasses a large conservation area in Matetsi. The conservancy and the lodge belonged to the De Vries family before Moyo grabbed it last year. Rodrigues said Moyo and neighbouring settlers had struck a deal with the South African hunters who are now involved in large scale illegal hunting of wildlife.
"Moyo chucked out the previous owners and he is now bringing safari companies from South Africa to slaughter animals. The conservancy is flooded with South African registered land cruisers. The VIPs like Moyo are involved in a lot of funny deals with safari operators. We have been monitoring the events," Rodrigues told The Daily News Online yesterday. Rodrigues said some settlers and Department of National Parks and Wildlife workers in the area had received "thousands" of United States dollars in bribes. He however said it was not clear whether Moyo had also received a pay out from the South African hunters "but our information shows that Moyo definitely authorized the illegal hunters". Rodrigues said eye witness reports indicated mass slaughter of animals by the hunters: "These people are literally on a killing spree. Amongst the carcasses our informants saw were lion,leopard, buffalo, elephant, kudu, sable, impala and even baboon." It was not possible to get a comment from Moyo yesterday. His secretary said the minister was not willing to take questions from the Daily News Online.
According to Zimbabwean laws, conservancy owners who have surplus animals should apply to the government so that the surplus animals are considered for hunting. The surplus animals would then be put on a quota for animals to be hunted. "The idea is that money earned from hunting should be ploughed back into the community and also into wildlife conservation. But in this case people are just lining up their pockets at the expense of the community and the animals," said the wildlife activist. Rodrigues said his organization would approach the Minister of lands and Resettlement, John Nkomo for recourse. "Nkomo is our hope. We will present him with all the evidence. Our hope is that he will drive Moyo out of the farm because he is there illegally. We understand that Moyo has other farms and is not entitled to the property," said Rodrigues. Nkomo last month demanded that Moyo and several other ministers should surrender extra farms they had illegally acquired during the fast track land reform programme.