18 Oct 2022

Botswana’s ambitions of becoming food self-sufficient would add to the human/wildlife conflict, especially in tourism areas, says Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC), Chief Executive Officer, Mr Tuelo Serufho.

When officiating at the inaugural annual Okavango Human Wildlife Conflict Foundation (OHWCF) charity golf cup prize giving dinner on Saturday, Mr Serufho said while wildlife was central to the tourism and tourism to efforts to diversify the economy, the ambition of becoming self-sufficient in crops and other agricultural produce would increase the human-wildlife conflict.

He said as communities constantly expanded their ploughing fields and cattle posts, so did the challenge of human-wildlife conflict. He said with the estimated 130 000 elephants in Botswana, communities in areas where those existed continued to experience challenges such as losing property and human lives.

Mr Serufho said the tournament, themed: Stakeholder Partnership towards the Human and Wildlife Coexistence, did not only address the issue of human-wildlife conflict, but also promoted tourism in Chobe as golfers came from areas such as Sowa, Orapa, Gaborone and Jwaneng.

He urged the chairperson and the team not to lose hope because OHWCF did not raise enough funds through the tournament, saying the fundamental thing was that they managed to start and would keep on improving.

Botswana Golf Union (BGU) President, Mr Modiri Phuthego said it was important to support charity activities that empowered and changed people’s lives, hence the union’s collaboration with OHWCF.

He said BGU was excited about the idea of raising funds for the victims of human-wildlife conflict and called on other sporting codes to come on board.

Mr Phuthego said the collaboration with OHWCF would help make golf accessible to the rural communities, breaking the perception that it was a sport for the elite.

OHWCF Chairperson, Mr  Gakemotho Satau said such communities experienced trauma due to loss of property, injuries and loss of the lives of their loved ones. He said having mitigation measures of human-wildlife conflicts would help reduce the anger that the communities had towards wild animals.

He said Botswana had a good conservation model, which however resulted in wild animals becoming a nuisance to human beings.

He lamented that OHWCF’s target to assist five people, who had had physical encounters with the wild animals, during the year, would have to be reduced due to insufficient funds.

He said this year alone, 10 people died and 17 were injured by wild animals in Okavango, while seven died and nine were injured in Maun.

Chobe Council Chairperson, Mr Chimney Mulelwane said Chobe was one of the areas where human-wildlife conflict was rampant. He commended OHWCF and BGU for their collaboration, saying it was a demonstration that government was not alone in encouraging human wildlife co-existence. ENDS