Wildbw: PLAYING IN THE HANDS OF ANTI HUNTERS A TROPHY HUNTING DEAL GONE BAD CANNOT JUST BE IGNORED.

Oshinka Tsiang

When Modiri Obuseng, the chairman of the Mmadinare Development Trust, stood up to comment at the recent CBNRM forum in Maun, he was responding to the mouth-watering figures nonchalantly thrown about by representatives from other Community Based Organisations, (CBO) and other officials, of money either evidently squandered or raised by CBOs from their hunting quotas. The shock to him was not that such money could be squandered, but that such money could be realised from hunting quotas. In his exasperation he let it slip that four trusts at CT27 had just entered a 15 year contract which was to yield a measly 1.5 million pula from a vast array of species including 30 elephants. Obuseng could not elaborate further because it was deemed the issue was not yet up for discussion. Consequently the forum never got to hear what really happened despite their apparent shock. Well the issue is now in the public domain and has even reached Parliament. Questions are being asked and no one seems to have an answer, even those who are very close to the case. Our own investigations reveal that at play are power relations, fuelled by money and influence that conspire to at the very least short-change communities of potential benefits from their natural resources. No one wants to say it out but clearly the matter is being played in plain sight.  While no one wants to claim responsibility it appears to be a case of a wealthy operator dangling carrots before every potential decision maker to agree to terms that in all honesty are laughable. To begin with; there seems to have been a serious undermining of the boards of the Trusts making up CT27. Politicians, traditional authorities and to some extent government official seem to have been complicit in facilitating such a shocking outcome. You also wonder just how much headquarters knows about this matter and what steps they took to remedy this travesty. It seems none wants to bell the cat and Obuseng’s cry may fall on deaf ears. Even when you talk to people close to the case you find there is certain kind of trepidation.  A certain kind of “la cosa nostra” about it, meaning no one seems to want to stir the pot. That is tragic. It is this sort of story that gives fuel to those who are working day and night to undermine Botswana’s policy of sustainable use. Those who are pushing for a ban on trophy hunting. Their big argument has always been to question the level of beneficiation for communities. They have stressed that it is the operators who benefit more from trophy hunting and not the communities. This sort of case hands them the ammunition they need to punch holes in Botswana’s hunting policy. What this calls for are decisive steps by the authorities to remedy the situation swiftly.

If under the new CBNRM act, trusts are still unable to negotiate with operators from a level playing field, if there is still political and other interference in the governance of the affairs of trusts. If the structures put in place to ensure a fair benefit for communities still fail to achieve the bare minimum, then we have a long way to go. It is clear that there are cracks in the system. Which is why the recent establishment of the CBNRM association is so crucial. Working on their own, many of the trusts are no match for moneyed operators who are able to buy influence, where they dictate the terms of contracts, where they even draft agreements without the input of the other parties. Without the backing of a body that can take up their plight in the form of an association, the trusts become at the mercy of these power imbalances. But for the folks at CT27, a solution is required now. There is no reason why the newly established Department of CBNRM cannot intervene. Our understanding is that they already have the file.

The CT27 story is a glaring case of the deficiencies in our CBNRM structures. It is not so much about avarice, which in human relations is generally a given, but enforcement. It is also about intent and accountability. When a motion calling for investigations on community based organisations or trusts was debated in Parliament but failed to pass, you got a sense that politics still gets in the way of bread and butter issues. If we are to truly transform this economy through community beneficiation from natural resources, we cannot continue to play politics. We cannot continue to fail to get the basics right.