International moratorium on trophy hunting called
Kloof
A LETTER-WRITER (John Gardener of Howick) asked a key question about whether Jacob Zuma would pay the R7.8 million he owes in the Nkandla saga set by the Ministry of Finance and the Constitutional Court.
Zuma has been given 30 days to make the payment. The vexing question is whether he will dig into his own coffers to pay up, or rely on someone else.
Gardener asked the question, but did not have the answer.
However, I have the answer, and with this being the betting silly season (the Durban July is being held this weekend), I would wager that the Guptas will come to his rescue and make the payment.
Of course, there are two others waiting in the wings to be his benefactors.
One is a billionaire bright spark from KwaZulu-Natal who loves his name and photos in the media. No prizes for guessing. He is not only a Smart Alec, but also a very bright spark!
The other, of course, is flushed with royalty and spends a lot of time in the royal household of Nkandla. He knows which side his bread is buttered on, and he is secured in comfort. ON THE first anniversary of Cecil the Lion’s death, the Born Free Foundation, a leading wildlife charity, is calling for an international moratorium on trophy hunting.
On July 1, 2015, Cecil was killed in Zimbabwe by American dentist and trophy hunter Walter Palmer. Cecil had been radio-tracked and studied by a University of Oxford team since 2008 as part of a longterm wild lion research project.
But he was lured away from the protection of Hwange National Park, shot by a bow and arrow and reportedly died 40 hours later.
News of his death went viral and rocked the world, prompting an unprecedented outpouring of grief for the 13-year-old lion.
One year on, Born Free is calling for countries to bring this cruel and unacceptable practice to an end, and find humane, effective and sustainable solutions to the threats facing many wild species.
President Will Travers, says: “Horrific though Cecil’s killing was, it has turned the spotlight on the cruel reality of trophy hunting, and helped dispel the myth that killing wild animals for ‘fun’ by a minority of wealthy Westerners benefits conservation or local communities.”
In September, representatives from the 182 member Parties (countries) to the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora will meet in Johannesburg, South Africa, to debate many issues, including the future protection of lions and the rules governing the export of hunting trophies
Born Free is supporting calls from concerned African nations for the uplisting of Africa’s lions to Cites Appendix I, which would ban all commercial international trade in lions and parts and products derived from them, and place greater restrictions on the hunting trophy industry.
Significant action has been taken by some countries since Cecil’s death. France announced a ban on lion trophy imports in November 2015, and the Netherlands banned the import of hunting trophies from around 200 species, including lions, in April.
Many airlines have banned or restricted the carriage of hunting trophies, and Cecil’s death was cited by a number of officials in relation to the development and adoption of the UN’s Resolution on Wildlife Trafficking.