Top diplomats, army o cers descend
TWO serving ambassadors, a retired diplomat and a high-ranking army officer are among numerous individuals who have been controversially settled on a private Midlands conservancy.
The conservancy is located in an area which President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his wife, respectively, once represented in Parliament.
Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement ministry officials are being blamed for the contested occupation of the conservancy.
Named diplomats admitted in interviews to getting pieces of land on the 63 000 hectare conservancy which is home to a range of wild animals that include the black rhino, elephants, kudus, eland, impala, bushbuck and waterbucks.
Buffaloes, hippopotamuses, zebras, wild dogs, leopards, cheetahs, brown and spotted hyenas and lions are also among the residents of the conservancy, which is managed as 10 separate game ranges.
Other people who have been settled on the Midlands Black Rhino Conservancy (MBRC) —situated in the Chirumanzu-Zibagwe constituency—include senior bureaucrats and members of the ruling Zanu PF party, it was established.
The MBRC has one of the highest populations of sables in Zimbabwe and conducts leopard ecological surveys, according to its website.
The mainly rural constituency was hastily set up ahead of the 2008 elections and won by President Mnangagwa, who had been beaten back-to-back in urban Kwekwe in 2000 and 2005 by the Movement for Democratic Change’s Blessing Chebundo.
Mnangagwa gave up the constituency when he was appointed covice president in 2014.
His wife and now first lady, Auxillia, contested and won the seat as a Zanu PF candidate in a 2015 byelection and was replaced by the ruling party’s Prosper Machando when Mnangagwa became president in 2017.
Members of the ruling party from surrounding areas like Zhombe, Chiundura, Kwekwe and Lower Gweru invaded the conservancy’s Dunlop Range ahead of the by-election with the blessings of relevant government departments like the Lands ministry.
These invasions set the pace for the current occupations.
Investigations done in collaboration with Information for Development Trust (IDT), a non-profit organisation supporting Zimbabwean and Southern African journalists to report on corruption and bad governance, have established the occupation of the MBRC—which runs as a trust, manages game drives and is home to more 200 bird species—by politically exposed individuals is threatening the area’s ecosystem.
In the dark
The Environment ministry says it is not aware of the new settlements on MBRC. It urged the aggrieved parties to report the matter
he responsible minister, Mangaliso Ndlovu, said in an interview that it was not government policy to resettle people on private properties.
“That case has not come to my desk so I am not able to issue a detailed comment. The rhino conservancy, I think, is a private property but they have not come to us. It is up to the owner to come to us if they think they want us to get involved,” he said.
The MBRC was set up in 1987 when farmers owning 14 pieces of land came together to pursue wildlife business on a total of 63,113 hectares as shown on the conservancy’s website.
For effective management, the conservancy is geographically set up on 10 wildlife ranges, namely Moreena, Mazuri, Mahamara, Chinyika, Circle G, Dunlop, Twin Springs, Bemthree, Estrange and Sebakwe Recreational park that was “donated” to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) by resettled farmers.
The respective ranges are managed by individuals and consortia.
As indicated on the MBRC website, there was an initial 66 black rhinos on site.
Previously known as the Greater Munyati Conservancy, the MBRC now hosts only eight black rhinos, with an unknown quantity being confined to areas outside the combined ranges.
The MBRC owners resolved through a constitution some time back that they would not pursue agricultural activities and would pull down internal fencing while putting a halt to further construction of buildings.
But the proliferation of new settlers is reversing that, with the new occupations coming with new buildings, fencing off of areas and numerous farming activities that disrupt wildlife management.
On-site observations made during the investigation revealed that the new occupants have set up temporary cabins inside the conservancy and brought in domestic livestock that is taking up pastures reserved for wildlife.
The new occupations are also heightening human-wildlife conflict as poaching by the “new farmers” is on the rise as the new occupants risk harm and loss of life.
Farm workers employed by the new settlers are using animal traps to snare small game like hares, kudus, impala, eland, impala, bush buck and the waterbucks.
It was also observed that the settlers were clearing big tracts of land for farming purposes, a development that disturbed the natural habitats and vegetation and drove away the wild animals from their homes.
Diplomatic occupations
One of the new settlers is Zimbabwe’s ambassador to South Africa, David Douglas Hamadziripi.
He replaced Isaac Moyo who was appointed the director general of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) in December 2017 following a military-assisted takeover that removed Mugabe, who had .ruled since independence in 1980, and put Mnangagwa in his stead.
Mnangagwa was confirmed president in the July 2018 elections, but his victory was unsuccessfully clanged by Nelson Chamisa of the MDC Alliance who claimed the poll had been rigged.
Hamadziripi served as Zimbabwe’s ambassador to France during the Mugabe tenure and is a former senior employee of the United Nations.
He confirmed getting a piece of land in the conservancy.
“I have a piece of land there, but I am not so sure that I am obliged to tell you what I am going to be doing with it because you are not the one who gave it to me in the first place,” said the ambassador.
He insisted that his occupation of part of the conservancy would not disturb the wildlife.
“I certainly do not intend to erect any fences on the piece of land. So any wildlife in the area will be able to move around,” he said.
Hamadziripi accused people opposed to his occupation of the land of being enemies of Zimbabwe’s land redistribution programme, which, however, was officially declared over more than a decade ago.
“Whoever is saying those settlements could be irregular is opposed to the land reform programme in Zimbabwe. We did not just wake up from nowhere and pitched up on that piece of land. We got the necessary authorisation from the competent and relevant authorities,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s former permanent representative to the United Nations, Chitsaka Chipaziwa, also got a piece of land in the conservancy, and had no qualms confirming it.
The 68-year old diplomat served as ambassador to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei and Cambodia between 1996 and 2003, according to online sources. He is also a former deputy head of mission in South Africa.
“The national parks will be supervising our activities so that we do not disturb wildlife. All my ac