26 May 2019

Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism, Mr Kitso Mokaila, says after extensive consultation with Batswana, government took a decision to lift the hunting ban that was imposed in 2014.

In 2018, he said, a cabinet sub-committee was tasked with initiating a dialogue aimed at reviewing the ban.

The consultation process entailed kgotla meetings, consultation with local authorities as well as other stakeholders such as Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO).

Mr Mokaila stated that the fundamental issue that emerged was citizens’ appreciation that they were being consulted and this was seen as necessary for building on the national principles of democracy, development, self-reliance unity and botho.

Minister Mokaila pointed out that some of the findings revealed that problem animals, especially elephants, culminated in human-wildlife conflict and the consequent impact on livelihoods was increasing.

Furthermore, he said predators appeared to have increased and were causing a lot of damage, thus condemning citizens to abject poverty while at the same time rendering government’s efforts of ensuring that people were self-reliant useless. 

He lamented that some people were busy advocating for wildlife and ignoring the fact that innocent lives were lost due to high volumes of these animals particularly elephants.

Mr Mokaila bemoaned that the same people who were claiming that government was intending to massacre elephants, “they never say a word when the same elephants kill human beings.”

The minister said there would not be a senseless shooting of animals, but the ministry would ensure reasonable quotas with fewer than less than 400 elephant licenses to be issued in selected areas where human-wildlife was rife. 

He stated that priority would be given to community based organisations and trusts, adding that there would be equitable distribution of citizen hunting quota to ensure that most of Batswana benefit. ends