ZIMBABWE - Destruction of wildlife, the environment and sensitive eco-systems

CONSERVANCY PROPOSALS TO GOVERNMENT

For those people who have genuine issues of land-hunger, and who find it necessary to move from the degraded soils of their communal farms to the fragile soils of the conservancies, it is worth pointing out that they stand to benefit far more from becoming involved in the wildlife and tourist aspect of the conservancies than they do as subsistence farmers on the same agriculturally marginal, drought-prone land.

With this in mind the conservancies all offered land for various CAMPFIRE projects and all their potential irrigable land for agriculture. Between the four conservancies, 64,200 acres were offered for resettlement and 310,000 for CAMPFIRE whereby surrounding communities would receive money from the hunting and tourism in these areas as well as benefiting from any spin-offs from the industry.

The land offered for resettlement was specifically chosen for its viability as sustainable agricultural land. Save Valley's offer included 4 farms outside of the Conservancies in Region III which is deemed far more suitable for agriculture than that of Save's low rainfall zone in Region V. What is more, 370 acres of the farmland offered is already under irrigation. The Conservancy offered to raise money for these farms and effectively give them over for resettlement. To this end, the World Bank's International Finance Corporation gave a loan of US$2 million, but without government approval for the scheme, it now sits idle in a bank.

With regards to the land offered on Chiredzi, Digby Nesbitt has this to say, 'The only way they can survive in this area is if land is irrigated. The resettlement property we offered has irrigation potential and is on the edge of communal land. There are already water systems in there and 90% of this land could be irrigated thereby offering settlement to more people. One block could settle 220 families and the other 180. These people would be properly settled and not just scraping a living. We offered the only land we could that is suitable for settlement - that has enough water. It would've been a brilliant plan, the communities involved in the conservancies, transparency in the running of the conservancy, irrigation to give them a viable living and it would've been politically good for the party. One of the proposed CAMPFIRE projects was all set to go. There were even clients lined up to come into the camp and the whole project could've been kicked off at the beginning of the year. There is also a training centre that was being set up to educate the community in wildlife and tourism. Now, every week that goes by, the project becomes less and less viable.'

Part of Chiredzi's offer was Clem Coetsee's farm. 'We wanted to build a fishing/game viewing lodge. I domesticate and train elephant and the opportunities were great to do elephant back safaris to see black rhino - that would've been unique, it hasn't been done before.'

The money for local communities generated by these projects would've been substantial but despite the government's initial interest and acceptance of this proposal, Coetsee was still issued with a 'Section 8' denoting the government's intent to takeover the land for resettlement. (The case was thrown out of court on November 12th 2001 but the squatters continue to poach and plough up the land.)

The Conservancies called in the Chairman of Zimbabwe's Wildlife and Tourism Council, Ed Kadzombe, to help them lobby government. Kadzombe and the Chief Executive Officer for the Zimbabwe Association of Tour and Safari Operators, George Pangeti, and the Minister of Tourism, Francis Nhema, were very much in favour of the conservancy's offers. It also appeared that the government had accepted the conservancy's proposals and the land valuations officer valued all the property offered to government. However, on the ground the invasions and poaching continued.

Kadzombe invited the then Minister of Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation, Border Gezi, to visit the Conservancies in April 2001. Gezi was also impressed with the offer and the potential employment it could create. He called together a meeting of the local land committee (including the DA), the MP and war veteran leaders on April 4th and asked why nothing was happening with regards to getting the squatters off the land. They replied they'd been receiving orders 'from above'. Gezi was killed under suspicious circumstances in his car on the road from Harare to Masvingo a few weeks after the meeting. Since then there has been no lobbying of government, and all those in favour of the conservancy's proposals appear to have been silenced.

The word is that despite the lip-service paid to amicable solutions, the government has another agenda - to win votes. Certain evidence I received last year indicates that the war veterans are actually being paid by Government to destroy the farming communities and the opposition party, the MDC. The document purports to be the minutes taken from a meeting of war veterans in Harare. It proposes that 'the opposition should be systematically infiltrated with highly paid people to destabilise and cause division and infighting in the party'. It continues, 'Methods should be devised to create negative press reports about the opposition and white farmers regionally and internationally…farmers (will be) systematically harassed and mentally tortured and their farms destabilised until they give in, and give up…. (for) some farmers…the 'Pamire-Silencing-Method' should be used.' (Chris Pamire was a businessman and former ZANU PF supporter who fell out with Mugabe and was killed in another mysterious road accident). The document goes on to state that in this event, the 'State President assures of top jobs…big rewards if the opposition and white farmers are brought to their knees…(and) no more prosecutions for any 'politically' motivated crimes.'

Given the situation in the case of the conservancies, there is certainly evidence that this is more than a simple matter of land hunger. As Roger Whittal points out, 'The crazy thing is that these squatters don't even want the land - the leadership has told me that it's too dry and too rough. Yet Agritex are in there now, pegging out 32 hectare blocks which people won't be able to do anything with - they'll die if they have to try and live off it! It's all just a matter of harassment - it's a political game.'