04 Dec 2014

Parliament has been told that the residents of the Central Kgalagadi Game Reserve (CKGR) had up until last year been provided with special game licenses which allowed them to hunt in wildlife management areas outside the CKGR.

Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Mr Tshekedi Khama said in response to a parliamentary question that hunting had been banned in all wildlife areas through statutory instrument no.2 of 2014.

He said CKGR residents were eligible and had access to social safety nets including food rations outside of the CKGR. Ghanzi North MP, Mr Noah Salakae had asked the minister if he was aware that two of the Judges in the Roy Sesana case ruled that the refusal to issue special game licenses to subsistence hunters in the CKGR was a violation of their right to life under the Constitution.

He had also wanted to know why the applicants were still not allowed to hunt in the reserve and did not receive food rations and how they were expected to feed themselves should they want to exercise their right to live in the reserve as per the court’s ruling. ENDS