Zimbabwe blames sanctions for mass elephant deaths
An elephant killed by poachers. At least 81 elephants have been killed in Zimbabwe in the past week. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- 81 elephants have been killed in the past few week
- Government had no resources for wildlife conservation awareness
- Wildlife authority has managed to operate with a paltry 50 rangers against a requirement of 500 because of sanctions
HARARE
Zimbabwe Tuesday blamed the killing of 81 elephants at its largest game park to sanctions imposed on the country by Western countries.
The claims came as the government intensified investigations into allegations that a poaching syndicate laced blocks of salt with cyanide killing the elephants and an unknown number of other animals at the Hwange National Park.
Environment, Water and Climate Minister Saviour Kasukuwere said the government had no resources for wildlife conservation awareness.
“We are obviously going to raise more resources to enable parks to work,” he said.
“We are also going to raise more awareness in communities and we are going to engage the judiciary so that we make it very difficult for the poachers through stringent and deterrent jail sentences.
The government newspaper, The Herald, said it was a “mystery” how the country’s wildlife authority has managed to operate with a paltry 50 rangers against a requirement of 500 because of sanctions.
“The world standard space for each elephant is one beast per square kilometre, yet in Hwange National Park alone there are 45 000 elephants against a holding capacity of 14 600,” the paper stated.
President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle were in 2002 slapped with sanctions by Western countries after the veteran ruler won a controversial presidential election.
SANCTIONS
The 89-year old leader blames the sanctions for the country’s economic collapse but his critics say his poor policies are responsible.
Former Education minister David Coltart said it was ridiculous for Zanu PF to blame the sanctions for what could be the worst case of poaching in the country’s history.
“I see that Zanu PF now argues that sanctions are responsible for poaching in Hwange! At this rate sanctions are going to be blamed for climate change,” he wrote on his blog.
“Instead of buying brand new Mercedes Benzes and luxury Toyota Landcruisers for ministers had that money been applied to buying Landrovers for our parks
“Instead of turning a blind eye to rampant corruption in the diamond sector had diamond receipts been applied to national parks then they would have had the wherewithal to run the parks properly." Environmentalists blame the rising cases of poaching in Zimbabwe to President Mugabe’s haphazard land reforms that saw wildlife sanctuaries being subdivided to people who had no skills or resources to manage them.
