Mmadinare Elephant Sales Raise 'Only' P422,000

ONALENNA MODIKWA
Staff Writer | Monday July 26, 2010 00:00

They had anticipated that they would raise P615,100. The highest bid for a single elephant was P19,000.  Mmadinare Development chairman, Moseki Moseki, said they failed to raise the anticipated amount because buyers decide the price of the beasts.

The auction was conducted by Auctioneers Botswana.

Moseki said the sale was a major breakthrough.

Last year, they only sold one elephant. The proceeds will be shared equally between the trusts.  He added that it is the first time they conducted the auction with Mapanda Conservation, which is new and seeks to benchmark against Mmadinare Development Trust.

He also said they have realised that it would be dangerous to separate the auctions in the same communal area, CT27.  Moseki noted that the auction of elephants was a last resort in that they had previously attempted tendering but nobody tendered.

They resorted to selling by offer but only two people made offers, one for P25,000 and the other for P8,000. 'We gave the offer to the highest bidder, but he later failed to produce the amount when we invited him over,' Moseki complained.

He said government makes more profit than the trusts from game sales.  He said elephants in the CT27 communal area are viewed as problem animals because they harass people.

'We do not even have time to market ourselves internationally,' pointing out that they rely on government to make marketing decisions because they are not a concession area.

Moseki explained that buyers do not bid high because they know they are still going to pay for licences from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks for P20,000.

'The quotas are also released late, when the hunting season is already on.  The hunting season that ran from July this year ends in January next year,' he says. Some time last year, the Mmadinare community instructed the trust to sell the elephants at P30,000 but there were delays because their Lepokole counterparts were new to selling.

Mmadinare was tasked with the responsibility of selling all the elephants and then sharing the proceeds with them. This created misunderstandings that took a long time to resolve until customers dropped their bids to as low as P15,000 per elephant.

 This year, the trusts expected each lot to raise P20,000 but that failed. Also up for sale during the 2010 qouta were three baboons, seven duikers, two spotted hyenas, 30 impalas, two kudu, three ostriches and five steenboks. All of them were sold at the auction.  Meanwhile, the selling of animals by the trust in Mmadinare has had positive outcomes helping the trust to open a call account where it deposited P200,000 from elephant sales.

The trust also made efforts to commit 20 percent of each year's sales to the village development committee. The committee that coordinated the auction assumed office in April.