21 May 2019

Chobe District chairperson, councillor Paul Chabaesele says 96 problem animal destruction cases were reported in the previous financial year.

Speaking at the ongoing Chobe full council meeting, councillor Chabaesele said of the 96 cases, 37 were received in the last quarter, adding that 65 cases had been assessed and were ready for compensation to the tune of P100 000 while 22 were pending assessment.

He said the remaining nine cases were non-compensatory. Furthermore, he said the district continued to be plagued by human/wildlife conflict, especially with respect to elephants as they were increasingly becoming a menace.

The council chairperson explained that farmers suffered crop destruction and residents lived under restricted movement due to the elephants roaming everywhere with their increasing numbers.

“Difficult as it is to co-exist with these animals, one may be able to bear the loss of economic sustenance such as crop destruction, but it becomes extremely painful and unbearable when lives are lost because no one can ever bring back a lost life,” he said.

Mr Chabaesele noted that the country has opened dialogue on lifting the hunting ban, adding that it was gratifying to note that the Kavango-Zambezi Trans Frontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) countries spoke with one voice that the southern African elephant population was too much for the habitat and were causing problems for people hence the need to implement some off-take measures.

He told councillors that Angola, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe supported Botswana’s position to propose to CITES that elephants be downlisted from appendix 1 to 2.

He said the issue would be explored further at a meeting in Singapore in June.

“As at now all I can say is that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and we thank President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi for all his efforts to address the problem,” he said.

He, however, noted that poaching still remained a concern in the Chobe National Park, especially on elephants as they were hunted for ivory.

He noted that law enforcement officers were deployed to curb the illegal activity.

On other issues, councillor Chabaesele expressed concern at the increase in drug trafficking and abuse in the district.

He explained that cannabis still remained a major problem drug in the Chobe policing area, adding that most of the drugs consumed in the district were smuggled from Francistown and Gaborone, as the deployment of SSG at border posts had reduced smuggling from the neighbouring countries. ENDS