10 Aug 2017

Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Kenneth Matambo has requested for emergency supplementary funding for the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism.

Making the request in Parliament recently, Minister Matambo said the additional funds were needed to enable the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism to put in place measures to deal with the problem of elephant movements which have been observed further south of the country reaching districts such as Southern, Ghanzi, Kgatleng, Kweneng and Kgalagadi.

He said it was worth noting that the said districts had hitherto not been populated by elephants.

Mr Matambo said as elephants traversed those areas, they caused extensive damage resulting in escalating human-elephant conflict.

He pointed out that a decision was therefore made through a presidential directive, directing that an emergency response be mounted to arrest the upsurge in reported cases of human-elephant conflict.

He explained that the decision was that the Department of Wildlife and National Parks be provided with 104 new manpower positions to augment capacity, and that additional funding be made available for the procurement of the necessary equipment for use by the department.

“The directive also provided for the repair of 150 off-road vehicles; purchase of shade netting equipment, elephant collars and procurement of camping and weather protection equipment,” he said, adding that, in order to enhance an early response, the ministry was requested to start using the available budget before they could request for supplementation.

Minister Matambo also told the house that to meet the expenditure outlined, the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism thus requested for an additional amount of P25 million (P25 114 910) to be funded from the Consolidated Fund.

He noted however that a sum of P4.7 million (P4 798 2100 was being transferred from the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security to partly cover salaries and allowances.

That, he said, left a balance of P20 million (P20 316 700), being the net additional amount requested from the Consolidated Fund.

With respect to the development budget, Mr Matambo said the ministry requested for an additional amount P41.6 million (P41 600 000) under the Sustainable Environment Programme, to be funded under the Development Fund.

“The amount is required for the procurement of three used helicopters, aviation fuel bowsers and radio communication equipment,” he stated.

He said as a consequence, the ministry budget needed to be increased by P41.6 million from P135 million to P176.6 million and the total estimated cost for the programme by the same amount from P142.1 million to P183.7 million. ENDS