Tsogwane advocates for the voice of marginalised
Ryder Gabathuse | Tuesday June 4, 2024 13:33
“When you reflect, sometimes we don’t represent the interests of these poor people very well. I am yet to experience a meeting of this magnitude that will bring together the poor communities under one roof to articulate their concerns,” he echoed the radical views to a deafening applause from the delegates. The Vice President was making reflections on the summit theme last Friday together with other Heads of State and government from the five Kavango Zambezi Trans Frontier Conservation Area (KAZA). The theme of the weeklong inaugural Heads of State Summit held at Avani Hotel here was 'Leveraging KAZA’s natural and cultural heritage resources as catalysts for inclusive socio-economic development of the eco-region'. The VP was worried that there were people who mistook the good work that his government was doing to empower the rural-based community organisations through provisions of quotas for trophy hunting and others as cruelty to animals despite the deliberate scientific conservation methods taking good care of the practice.
“There are people who choose to deliberately distort this model of empowerment and conservation to recklessness and cruelty to animals. “We know for certain what we are doing and the benefits derived out of this endeavour far outweighs the imagined problems,” added Tsogwane. He enlightened the summit that through Community Based National Resources Management (CBNRM) his government ensured there were trickle down benefits to the communities. His strong views are that people living in the wildlife rich areas have to derive full benefits from the natural resources in a controlled manner, as it’s the case. He told doubting Thomases (especially speaking as a legislator for the rural Boteti West), which is in KAZA, emphasising that he grew up exposed to traditional conservation methods, which are as old as humanity itself.
From years of yore, Tsogwane said they generally grew up knowing that there were certain trees that they shouldn't cut in winter (like mokgalo or buffalo thorn) and the issue of totems where different tribes revere certain animals to the extent of not killing them and rather choosing to preserve them. This he believes taught them to live alongside the said animals. Tsogwane highlighted that Botswana remains committed to KAZA as epitomised by the country’s hosting of the KAZA Secretariat and having allocated a plot for the construction of the secretariat offices. He told the summit that Botswana has recently moved a step further as a Cabinet Memo was recently issued in which the country has committed itself to according the KAZA Secretariat team with diplomatic recognition. Hakainde Hichilema, President of the host nation, Zambia speaking at the same event encouraged KAZA member states to be conscious of the best way of extracting services from the available assets in the KAZA region. He expressed gratitude to the traditional leaders in the five KAZA states. “We should pay homage to our traditional leaders and even our forefathers who lived alongside these animals and kept the bio-diversity in check,” said Hichilema. He reminded the summit that it was interesting that the five countries in KAZA share a lot in common such as culture, languages, and the issue of inter-marriages, which he said should encourage the people to work all the more closer. Hichilema wondered why when they cull trees there is no noise but when they want to cull the wild animals in consideration of a number of factors, the move attracts controversy. He, however, warned that of course irresponsible harvesting of the assets could lead to depletion of the natural resources. “We should take good care of these assets and achieve broader objectives as KAZA,” the Zambian President appealed.
SADC Executive Secretary, Elias Magosi, also told the summit that the increased wildlife trade restrictions at the international market and at CITES, penalise and undermine KAZA’s success in conserving its wildlife and protecting its human population, thereby depriving the KAZA region of the critical revenue for sustainable wildlife conservation and enhanced livelihoods for our local communities. “Our key message to the world today, during this Summit, is that we must all find workable solutions for all affected, not just wildlife only. We must promote innovative and sustainable wildlife- based value chains to optimise the use of wildlife resources for improved livelihoods of SADC citizens, and contribute to socio-economic development,” Magosi said.
He emphasised that KAZA must become an important regional asset for sustainable social and economic development, by transforming it into a premier tourism destination in the region. With the pilot KAZA UniVisa implemented from 2016 to date, Magosi was elated that it has been successful, “with a total of 29,000 and 179,000 issued by Zambia and Zimbabwe, respectively.” He felt the UniVisa should, therefore, be expanded to all KAZA member states without further delay, “to further strengthen tourism development, and maximise social and economic benefits of this region, and enhance sustainable conservation of wildlife'. Other Heads of State who also gave highlights of the Summit included Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Nangolo Mbumba of Namibia with Angola represented by its Minister of Tourism Marcio De Jesus Lopes.