Parks Authority blamed for animal deaths at Hwange National Park

From George Nyathi in Bulawayo
18 January 2006

The Zimbabwe Conservation Taskforce (ZCT) has castigated the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA) for bureaucratic tendencies it claims have contributed to the death of a number of animals at the Hwange National Park in Matabeleland North. This follows a serious stand off between the taskforce and the authority over a donation made to the latter by international donors via the former.

The donation includes tyres and engines for some of the authority's vehicles, said to have been grounded for long, and engines and spare parts for water pumps as well as other materials. ZCT chairperson, Johnie Rodrigues told SW Radio Africa in Bulawayo that the donation was still at his association's offices as the authority was refusing to accept it. He said that the authority's director general, Morris Mtsambiwa had written letters to all departmental heads at the park instructing them not to entertain the association’s members.

‘We have tried all we can to have that donation sent to the park but we have failed to do so. We understand that the authority’s director-general, Morris Mtsambiwa has written to all senior wardens at the park instructing them not to entertain us. ‘We find it really strange that this situation has come to this end,’ said Rodrigues.

He added that the equipment was from a donor who appreciated the problems faced by the authority, adding that it was meant to save wildlife from perishing in case of drought. Rodrigues said: ‘The Parks and Wildlife Authority has been faced with a critical shortage of parts for both the vehicles and water pumping engines. Their vehicles have been grounded for some time and we had sourced this donation to help them solve the crisis.

‘It is surprising now that they are declining to accept the donation that we wanted to make to them. One thing has to be borne in mind is that this is not all about personal or organizational benefits but simply for the animals that might perish in case water problems come again,’ said Rodrigues.

Recently, the association and the authority have been at loggerheads over the utterances that the latter suspects are aimed at drawing retribution from wildlife advocacy groups such as World Wildlife Forum (WWF).

Rodrigues said the donors had pledged to support the parks with a US 500 000 ($45 billion) investment into infrastructural development at the park.
A further $2 billion was readily available to the park's authority as soon as they accept the donation.

Responding to our questions, the authority's public relations office said they were ready to accept any donations that were forwarded to it through ‘normal channels’. He said: ‘We have had situations where some people go around the world claiming that they are raising donations on behalf of the park and the authority so to speak, donations that are at the end of the day pocketed by individuals.

‘We have also encountered situations where some people deceitfully gain entry into the park and dump equipment there on the pretext that they are donating to the authority and the park. At the end of the day, we are asked about donations that we did not even receive,’ said a statement from the authority.

The statement further added that the authority had informed the taskforce leadership of its concerns, adding that the taskforce was supposed to write to its director general about the donation.

‘We accept any donations that come to us on condition that they come through the right channels. What we want to make clear to that organization is that they should write to the director general and inform him about the donation. In that way we won't encounter these problems that we are facing with this organization,’