Animals from the Kruger National Park, including ”protected species and even lions”, are being hunted and killed in the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve (TPNR) in order to balance the books, according to United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa.
The management of the TPNR, offended by the accusations, has demanded a public apology from Holomisa.
In a letter sent on Thursday to Limpopo environment and tourism minister Ohm Chabane, Holomisa said the hunting has been happening since the boundary fence between the Kruger park and the adjacent TPNR was taken down.
A copy of the letter was sent to the office of Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk.
The TPNR is a conservation area that borders the Kruger National Park and is privately owned. In the almost two million hectares of the Kruger park itself, hunting is strictly forbidden.
”The fence was inadequate, and the decision [to remove the fence] was allowed since the TPNR’s incorporation agreement clearly prohibited commercial hunting.
”However, I have been informed that the TPNR makes available trophy game for commercial hunting,” Holomisa stated.
”There has always been hunting in the TPNR,” Tom Hancock, chairperson of the TPNR Association, told the Mail & Guardian Online on Friday.
”The fence has been removed a long time ago and the hunting that takes place is done with knowledge of the Kruger National Park and the provincial government of Limpopo.
”For the hunting season of 2006, which starts on the first of April 2005, we have permission to shoot 22 buffalo. We have, in fact, already sold these permits.
”All our income goes to conservation, and the accusation by Holomisa that we would undertake hunting to balance our books is not true,” Hancock said.
In his letter, Holomisa described the hunting situation as ”outrageous”.
”[It] means that not only has the TPNR contravened their own constitution prohibiting commercial hunting, but also that game from the Kruger National Park that roams into the TPNR can be commercially hunted, to balance the books of the TPNR,” the letter stated.
”It makes a mockery of this country’s attempts at nature conservation. I’ve been told that protected species and even lions have been commercially hunted in this fashion inside the TPNR.
”Surely we cannot condone the destruction of a national asset for the commercial gain of a private institution, and the pleasure of a select group of rich hunters,” Holomisa wrote.
He added that ”to the extent that the Limpopo government may have issued hunting permits to the TPNR or its members, one has to wonder how that decision could have been allowed”.
Hancock contradicts these allegations.
”The constitution of the TPNR forbids the private owners from undertaking hunting expeditions, but it allows for the TPNR Association to organise expeditions in the reserve.
”Mr Holomisa is writing that we are shooting national assets, which is completely not true. The animals that are hunted do not belong to the state; they belong to no one. So, to say that we are killing national assets is like accusing us of stealing, and we are doing nothing illegal.
”Accusations like these are very serious and can be very damaging for the TPNR.
”We have contacted Holomisa and we will probably demand a public apology from him. If he is not willing to give us that, we will probably undertake legal action against him,” Hancock said.
Holomisa has called on Chabane to investigate the matter. He was not available on Friday to comment on the reaction of the Timbavati management.
South Africa National Parks media officer Lulama Luti said late on Thursday that the park authorities are ”taking these allegations very seriously, and will look into the matter”.
The park will issue more comment later, she said.