Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) has reportedly redeployed 29 game rangers and officials from Hwange National Park following a series of poaching incidents believed to involve insiders. Sources within ZimParks said the decision to transfer the rangers was triggered by a recent probe into the killings of over 60 elephants in Hwange and other wildlife reserves dotted around the country.
The sources questioned the wisdom of simply transferring the rangers if they were involved in killing elephants, scores of animal species in the food chain who fed on their carcases and poisoned the environment.
“We were surprised that these people are simply being redeployed. It’s like their actions are being condoned. If they were involved in this national disaster, they should be fired. This smacks of a cover up,” said a source who cannot be named for professional reasons. ZimParks spokesperson Caroline Washaya Moyo yesterday declined to comment over the issue, saying it had been reported by other newspapers.
She refused take questions on new developments insisting the story was covered by our sister paper The Herald and ordered this reporter to speak fast, saying she was busy. “Just quote the Herald, you guys are sister papers,” she said and hung up.
The Herald story she was referring to simply stated that there were mass redeployments at the game park. Investigations, ordered by the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, indicated that some ZimParks rangers were behind the rampant poaching, where poachers used cyanide to poison wildlife.
The sources said ZimParks had engaged villagers close to the wildlife conservancies to assist in fighting poaching. In the past months, elephants in Hwange have come under threat from poachers using cyanide, a lethal chemical compound, to kill the protected animals.
Two weeks ago, Muchinguri-Kashiri said from her own investigations, game rangers had been implicated in poaching, alleging that this was largely due to poor conditions that most of them work under. She said most poaching incidents were happening not far from the ZimParks camps that are manned by officials.
The minister said wildlife poaching and trafficking was a national security issue, not just a conservation matter, as it was being conducted by sophisticated transnational organised criminal networks.
A ZimParks ranger was dragged to court last week after he allegedly connived with some villagers to poison elephants using cyanide in the Hwange National Park. Lucky Mubewure and two villagers from Dete were found with a kilogramme of cyanide.
They were charged with illegal hunting and possessing a hazardous substance. Conservationists believe that Africa is losing elephants and rhinos through a combination of determined criminal gangs, corrupt government officials and a strong market for smuggled ivory, especially in Asian countries.