18 Mar 2020

Some members of Mababe community have expressed displeasure at some of the recommendations made by the task force that was engaged to conduct investigations over alleged maladministration at Mababe/Zokotshama Community Development Trust (MZCDT).

They felt the recommendations favoured the board of trustees over the community.

The task force was formed at the behest of the community who had registered their complaint with the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism over wide ranging issues among them poor governance and maladministration by the trust.

One of the recommendations that did not sit well with residents was the one that gave a certain investor the green light to buy a quota allocated to MZCDT for the 2020 hunting season at 75 per cent of the quota fees.

They said  it deviated from the consensus reached by the community to have the quota sold through an expression of interest.

The recommendation, they said, came as a shock to them as they had previously voiced their objections to work with the investor in question.

Kgosi Montle Kebuelemang of Mababe was shocked that the board of trustees signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the investor on November 18, 2019 prior to the release of the quota in December the same year.

The task force admitted in the report that the MOU in question was not negotiated in good faith.

“The investigation should interrogate the following points in favour of community beneficiation as outlined in the MOU, African Fields Sports (Pty) Ltd will buy a quota allocated by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) to MZCDT for the 2020 season at 75 per cent of the quota fees,” says the task force report in part.

To map the way forward, Kgosi Kebuelemang said the community would, as a matter of agency, convene to look at some of the recommendations to try to settle the matter once and for all.

Kgosi Kebuelemang added that the community was not going to rest until the matter was resolved, adding that it included seeking intervention from the highest office in the land. Ends