A dozen lieutenants of President Robert Mugabe were busting United States sanctions through safari operations which generated $17.5 million in 2004 despite a 50 percent decline in tourism.
A cable dispatched by the United States embassy on 19 December 2007 said 60 percent of the hunters that came to Zimbabwe were Americans.
The cable listed the Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front cronies benefitting as:
- – Edward Chindori-Chiningwa (Gwaai Valley Conservancy);
- – Jocelyn Chiwenga (Matetsi Unit 6 Safari Area);
- – Ignatius Chombo (Chiredzi River Conservancy);
- – Dumiso Dabengwa (Gwaai Valley Conservancy);
- – Joseph Made (Gwaai Valley Conservancy);
- – Amos Midzi (Gwaai Valley Conservancy);
- – Kembo Mohadi (Gwaai Valley Conservancy);
- – Simon Moyo (Gwaai Valley Conservancy);
- – Obert Mpofu (Gwaai Valley Conservancy);
- – Webster Shamu (Chirisa Safari Area and 51 percent stake in Famba Safaris), wife also has a separate interest in Chete Safari Area, but she is not on the SDN list;
- – Charles Utete (Gwaai Valley Conservancy);
- – Paradzai Zimondi (Charara Safari Area);
- – Lovemore Chihota (Matetsi Unit 7), brother of SDN Phineas Chihota;
- – Thandi Nkomo (Tuli Safari Area), sister of SDN Louise Nkomo who is the spouse of SDN Francis Nhema.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 07HARARE1130, ZIMBABWE HUNTING SUPPORTS REGIME INSIDERS AND
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Reference ID |
Created |
Released |
Classification |
Origin |
VZCZCXRO5607
PP RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSB #1130/01 3531236
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 191236Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2332
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 1801
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 1698
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 1826
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0432
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1103
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR 1460
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 1882
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 4310
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0953
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC//DHO-7//
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK//DOOC/ECMO/CC/DAO/DOB/DOI//
RUEPGBA/CDR USEUCOM INTEL VAIHINGEN GE//ECJ23-CH/ECJ5M//
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 HARARE 001130
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR B. PITTMAN
USAID FOR L.DOBBINS AND E. LOKEN
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/19/2017
SUBJECT: ZIMBABWE HUNTING SUPPORTS REGIME INSIDERS AND
CONSERVATION EFFORTS
Classified By: Poloff Scott Higgins, reason: 1.4 d
——-
SUMMARY
——-
¶1. (C) Summary. Despite a 50 percent decline in receipts
since 2004, the $17.5 million a year safari hunting business
remains an important source of foreign currency in Zimbabwe.
At least 12 regime insiders on the U.S. financial sanctions
list reportedly have interests in the industry. Hunting
revenue also provides essential funding for conservation
efforts. With little or no government support for the
National Parks and Wildlife Authority (Parks) and
conservation in general, income from hunting keeps Parks
functioning, provides local communities income for
conservation and development projects, and serves as the life
blood for the remaining private conservancies in the country.
End Summary.
——————————————-
Safari Hunting Still Viable, But In Decline
——————————————-
¶2. (U) Despite a sharp decline in tourism receipts over the
past couple of years, safari hunting in Zimbabwe remains an
important source of foreign currency. According to a
November 28 article in the government-controlled newspaper
The Herald, since January, safari hunting has contributed
$15.8 million (36 percent) of the $43.9 million brought in by
tourism to date. (Note. According to the GOZ’s October 1
Monetary Policy Statement, total forex earnings for 2006 were
about $1.7 billion, and are projected to be close to that for
2007; total international tourism earnings for 2007,
according to the Herald, will amount to only about $48
million, or 3 percent of overall forex receipts. End Note.)
While a 10-14 day trophy hunt in Zimbabwe is “cheap” by
comparison with other African countries, the cost is still
big money. The typical 10 day elephant hunt can cost $25,000
per person and a lion hunt can run $40,000. Americans
account for more than 60 percent of hunters coming to
Zimbabwe with the rest coming mostly from Europe.
¶3. (U) Prior to the start of the fast-track land reform
program in 2000, the commercial wildlife industry, including
hunting and eco-tourism, was growing. However, adverse
international publicity about declining socio-political
conditions and controversial hunting practices (including
high quotas, poaching, and poor wildlife management on
private land seized by regime insiders) has taken a severe
toll on the tourism industry and the safari hunting
sub-sector. Morris Mpofu, division chief of exchange control
at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, told participants at the
Safari Operators’ Association of Zimbabwe (SOAZ) annual
general meeting in November that safari hunting earnings had
fallen over 50 percent from $34.7 million in 2004.
————————
How the System It Works
————————
¶4. (U) There are three categories of land in Zimbabwe on
which hunting is allowed: state land, communal land, and
private land. On state land under the jurisdiction of Parks,
the 16 safari area hunting concessions are offered via a
public auction. However, any Zimbabwean – including a regime
insider – is free to participate and win. Plus, it is
impossible to ascertain who may be financially backing a
particular winning bidder. State land also includes 6 forest
area hunting concessions allocated by tender.
HARARE 00001130 002 OF 004
¶5. (C) In recent years, there have been reports that several
lucrative safari areas concessions were awarded without being
offered for public tender to allow regime insiders to gain
control of concessions at below market prices. Sally Bown, a
SOAZ representative, stressed that may have been a problem in
the past, but the most recent concession allocations have
been done in a fair and open manner. George Pangeti,
chairman of Parks and the Africa representative for Safari
Club International (SCI), told poloff that Parks now insists
on public auctions specifically to avoid undue political
interference and to ensure Parks receives the full value of
the offering. (Note: Parks is a financially self-sufficient
parastatal that receives no funding from the government
except for a specific allocation for development in
Gonarezhou National Park. End Note.)
¶6. (U) Hunting on communal lands is managed through the
Communal Areas Management Program for Indigenous Resources
(CAMPFIRE) program. There are 37 districts that participate
in the program, but only 12 generate revenue on a regular
basis accounting for 97 percent of all CAMPFIRE income.
About 90 percent of CAMPFIRE income comes from leasing trophy
hunting concessions. Under CAMPFIRE, wildlife revenues are
divided among the local communities, wildlife management, the
rural district councils, and the CAMPFIRE association.
Pangeti told us that the CAMPFIRE governing board recently
approved a measure to require all communal land concessions
to be allocated by public auction starting in 2008.
¶7. (U) Private land is the most controversial category from a
sanctioned individual/ property rights perspective. During
the fast-track land reform program, many farms, private game
reserves, and conservancy properties were seized and given
away as patronage to regime insiders and ruling party
supporters. There are no public records of ownership and
control of the seized land.
¶8. (U) Concession holders and private land owners sell their
hunting quotas either to a single safari operator on a
contractual basis for a season or book individual 10-14 day
hunts directly with safari operators or professional hunters.
Safari operators, professional hunters, and booking agents
regularly attend the annual SCI convention in Reno, Nevada to
solicit U.S. clients. They also do a considerable amount of
marketing on the Internet and in trade publications.
¶9. (U) A client typically pays a hunting registration fee to
Parks, a daily rate to the guide or safari operator (about
$1,000 per day), and a trophy fee for any animal taken.
Trophy fees accrue to Parks, CAMPFIRE, or the private land
owner depending on where the hunt takes place. The safari
operator or professional hunter may also charge an additional
trophy fee for their services. The current trophy fees are
about $12,000 for elephant, $6,500 for lion, $3,500 for
sable, $3,000 for hippo, and $2,500 for leopard. Parks also
charges an export fee for any trophy shipped out of the
country. The decision on where to hunt depends on a number
of factors, including cost, locale, and the client’s
expectations (e.g., wilderness experience or desire to shoot
a specific animal).
——————————————-
Sanctioned Nationals in the Safari Industry
——————————————-
¶10. (C) Although hunting revenues are declining, some
individuals on the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign
Assets Control (OFAC) list of Specially Designated Nationals
(SDNs) are still earning foreign currency from hunting. SDNs
have stakes in safari area concessions, safari operators, and
private land/ private hunting reserves. They do not have
HARARE 00001130 003 OF 004
interests in communal lands where, according to Don Heath, a
professional hunter and former Parks official, more that 50
percent of hunts with Americans take place.
¶11. (C) Establishing a connection between SDNs and their
safari interests is difficult because these individuals are
often careful to hide their direct involvement in the
business. According to Heath, the following OFAC-sanctioned
individuals are known to have a stake in a safari area
concession, safari operator, and private land/ private
hunting reserve:
– Edward Chindori-Chiningwa (Gwaai Valley Conservancy);
– Jocelyn Chiwenga (Matetsi Unit 6 Safari Area);
– Ignatius Chombo (Chiredzi River Conservancy);
– Dumiso Dabengwa (Gwaai Valley Conservancy);
– Joseph Made (Gwaai Valley Conservancy);
– Amos Midzi (Gwaai Valley Conservancy);
– Kembo Mohadi (Gwaai Valley Conservancy);
– Simon Moyo (Gwaai Valley Conservancy);
– Obert Mpofu (Gwaai Valley Conservancy);
– Webster Shamu (Chirisa Safari Area and 51 percent stake in
Famba Safaris), wife also has a separate interest in Chete
Safari Area, but she is not on the SDN list;
– Charles Utete (Gwaai Valley Conservancy);
– Paradzai Zimondi (Charara Safari Area);
– Lovemore Chihota (Matetsi Unit 7), brother of SDN Phineas
Chihota;
– Thandi Nkomo (Tuli Safari Area), sister of SDN Louise Nkomo
who is the spouse of SDN Francis Nhema.
(Note: Heath has agreed to assist in gathering documentation
on hunting properties and concessions of SDNs. Post will
forward any information received. End Note.)
——————————–
Conservation Depends on Hunting
——————————–
¶12. (U) The prolonged decline in the economy and rising
levels of food insecurity have contributed to a number of
threats against the once respected wildlife management and
conservation programs in the country. Desperation and
poverty, especially in rural areas, have led to an increase
in poaching and encroachment into wildlife areas, including
national parks and conservancies
¶13. (U) Parks’ conservation efforts, already under severe
strain due to a lack of resources, serve as the only line of
defense against increased poaching and resettlement in
national parks, including Mana Pools National Park, a UNESCO
World Heritage Site, and Gonarezhou National Park, which is
part of the Great Limpopo Trans-Frontier Park, a tri-country
initiative including Mozambique and South Africa. According
to Dr. Morris Mtsambiwa, director general of Parks, 92
percent of Parks’ income is derived from hunting revenue,
which it uses to fund operational costs, including staffing
state lands with wardens and rangers, conducting
investigations and seizures in illegal wildlife trade, and
anti-poaching activities. Parks executives as well as every
NGO and private sector expert we consulted agreed that Parks
would collapse without income from hunting.
¶14. (U) Hunting revenue is also essential for local
communities that participate in the CAMPFIRE program. Almost
90 percent of CAMPFIRE income comes from trophy hunting
concessions. From 1998-2001, CAMPFIRE generated over $20
million for participating communities — of which
approximately 50 percent has been disbursed to communities
(118 wards and over 121,500 households), 20 percent used for
wildlife management, 12 percent retained by rural district
HARARE 00001130 004 OF 004
councils, 3 percent used for expenses, and 15 percent still
held by rural district councils pending allocation. Local
communities used the allocations to fund development projects
such as drilling new boreholes and building new schools and
clinics. The CAMPFIRE program is an important tool to
demonstrate to local communities the commercial value of
wildlife and to halt increased poaching and the ongoing
expansion of low-yielding, mainly subsistence agricultural
land use in wildlife areas. Hunting also provides a large
number of jobs to local communities.
¶15. (U) There also are a number of private wildlife
conservancies still operating in the country that allow
hunting, the largest being the Save Valley Conservancy (SVC)
located in the south eastern lowveld area of the country near
the border with Mozambique and South Africa. Formed in 1991,
the SVC is made up of 31 title properties (including an
American principal) covering 866,000 acres and holds a
significant proportion of Zimbabwe’s wild dog and rhino
populations, including the endangered black rhino. There are
also abundant populations of other southern Africa wildlife.
¶16. (U) Weldon Schenck, an American who owns Hammond Ranch in
the SVC, told us that with the collapse of Zimbabwe’s tourism
industry, the SVC now relies almost entirely on sport hunting
for income. Schenck added that without American hunters the
SVC would be out of business which would lead to an even
sharper increase in poaching and resettlement in the SVC as
well as other conservancy areas and national parks. Schenck
also highlighted that Hammond Ranch alone employs over 40
full time staff and supports 600 women in the Nyangambe
community through a profit generating project.
¶17. (U) The SVC is also involved with several other important
conservation projects. David Goosen, director of Sango Ranch
in the SVC, reported that the SVC recently finalized an
agreement with Parks to serve as a pilot program to take on
local communities as legal business partners. Under the
agreement, local communities will receive a set fee for each
type of animal killed on a particular section of the
conservancy in addition to receiving the meat from the
animal. The idea is to instill in the local communities that
wildlife has a financial value that needs to be protected
from poaching and to prevent further resettlement
encroachment into the conservancy. If successful, Parks
plans to replicate the program to at least six other private
conservancies throughout the country.
——-
Comment
——-
¶18. (C) Targeting SDNs with interests in the hunting industry
would be difficult, although possible. A broader effort to
eliminate U.S. hunters from Zimbabwe would definitely effect
SDNs with hunting interests, but would potentially cause the
collapse of the hunting industry and would consequently have
a devastating effect on Parks, conservation in Zimbabwe,
biodiversity including the survival of specific endangered
species, and a number of local communities. End Comment.
MCGEE
(117 VIEWS)
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