ZWNEWS

From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 14 August

Wildlife sanctuary now a hunting ground

Harare - Zimbabwe's information minister, Jonathan Moyo, has seized a celebrated African wildlife sanctuary, government documents have shown, and turned it over to hunting. An agriculture department letter shows that Mr Moyo was allocated the conservancy during President Robert Mugabe's land-grab, which began in 2000. The minister has denied taking Sikumi Tree Lodge, one of the biggest prizes on offer under the mass appropriation that has stripped 4,000 white farmers and hundreds of thousands of their workers of their property. The lodge was once a showpiece of eco-tourism and was where the Queen had lunch during the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in 1991. Now it plays host to those willing to pay to shoot rare game. The legal owner of Sikumi Tree Lodge and 45,000 acres of adjoining conservancies that border the Hwange National Park in northern Matabeleland is an ecologist, Thys de Vries, 44. His wife, three children and staff fled after armed men invaded a year ago, according to a complaint lodged by Mr de Vries in court. He is also challenging the seizure of other conservancies by other cabinet ministers and the ruling Zanu PF party's elite.

Mr de Vries said yesterday: "Jonathan Moyo staked out Sikumi Tree Lodge several times before the invasion, but we couldn't prove his involvement until now." A document from the department of agriculture purports to show Mr Moyo's "ownership"' of Sikumi Tree Lodge, via its registered name, Lot 2 of Dete Valley. Mr Mugabe decided earlier this year that he would no longer allow anyone to own more than one farm, although several family members, including his wife, Grace, have ignored him. Mr Moyo is repeatedly accused by his enemies within Zanu PF and opposition parliamentarians of having grabbed more than one formerly white-owned farm. John Nkomo, the lands minister, told local journalists two weeks ago that any (black) man who "occupies" more than one white-owned farm must withdraw. But, in addition to Sikumi Tree Lodge, Mr Moyo said in the state-controlled press recently that he had paid the government about Ł2,000 for a 1,000-acre farm near Harare. The farm is still legally owned by the estate of Tom Bayley, a Briton. Mr Bayley, 88, was under siege in his homestead from Mr Mugabe's supporters for 35 days before he fell and broke a leg and abandoned the farm he had worked for 66 years. He died a week later.

At the height of Zimbabwe's tourist boom, Sikumi Tree Lodge earned up to Ł3,000 a month, though tourism has collapsed in recent years. It appears that those now running it are making up the shortfall by letting in hunters. Mr Mugabe's supporters control most hunting licences and sell quotas of trophy animals to safari operators. The Wildlife Association of Zimbabwe has said the quotas are unsustainable and threaten cheetah, leopard and lion populations. A South African company, Out of Africa, takes hunters to Mr de Vries's land. One of his partners was there this week with a group of about 10 Canadians. Mr de Vries said: "The animals are being slaughtered there." Mr Moyo was not available. He was appointed to Mr Mugabe's cabinet in 2000 and drafted media laws widely regarded as among the world's most repressive. Many journalists have been beaten, arrested and deported under the provisions of his Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.