Tracing the hunt for the hunter

| Friday August 24, 2012 00:00

 

Mmegi: When and why was the APU formed?Manyemba: It was formed in 1989. We basically have one primary objective, which is to detect and respond to threats to Botswana's wildlife caused by poachers.

At the time it was formed, it was realised that poaching was getting out of hand. The traditional modus operandi of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks' units was not coping with poaching, hence the formation of APU.

Mmegi: Can you please describe the APU in detail? Is it an elite para-military unit within the wildlife department?Manyemba: Yes. It was formed to deal with armed cross-border crossing, hence the APU had to be an elite paramilitary unit, to be better trained and equipped to deal with these poachers who are armed and dangerous.

Mmegi: What are the qualifications needed for one to be a member or officer in the APU?Manyemba: They are Batswana, have minimum qualification of Cambridge certificate, among other things. This is the first group of the APU. They were pulled out of other units within the Wildlife department.

Since then we have not yet recruited from outside the department for the purpose of strengthening the APU and also at one point we had to freeze recruitment because as everyone is aware, we are faced with recession.

Our officers are able to apply field craft tactics and map reading in executing anti-poaching activities. They are also expected to display a skilled level in the use and maintenance of individual firearms in accordance with the established technical instructions, APU safety precautions and standard operating procedures.

Mmegi: Who trained them? The police or the Botswana Defence Force?Manyemba: The BDF. But since then we have developed our own training capacity for future intake. That is officers currently in the APU are capable of training recruits, thus we can do our training inhouse, so to speak.

Mmegi:  Are you the founding APU commander?Manyemba:  No. I have two predecessors. I retired from the BDF in 2008 and joined the APU as its commander the following year.

Mmegi:   What are some of the successful missions that the APU has undertaken? Please give specific details where you possibly can?Manyemba:  Since its inception, the APU has been dealing with all forms of poaching from subsistence to commercial poaching and has made a significant number of arrests. We embark on a number of operations on a daily basis.

Sometimes we mount specific operations where we have reasons to believe there is a possible incursion or where poaching is getting out of hand, particularly subsistence poaching.

Mmegi:  What are the challenges faced by the unit and how are they being addressed?Manyemba:  The proliferation of organised syndicates is a big concern because from our analysis these are poachers with some military background. They are able to evade us, using military field tactics.

They can even ambush us, something which can be done by people with military training. These are the kind of people that we have to deal with. The other challenge is that we have to cover vast operational areas with insufficient resources, especially air cover.

Mmegi:  What about cases involving poaching? Do they take long as other civil and criminal cases often do?Manyemba:  The delays in the trial of cases also affects us, because unfortunately the cases involving poaching are not given special attention. So as you are aware, the wheels of justice are very slow.

It can be frustrating because the poachers would be arrested and then get bail, from there they would either die of natural causes while on bail or we would arrest them again on another case of poaching. This frustrates our troops because they see their efforts not bearing fruit, yet they put their lives in danger to defend our wildlife against poachers who are ruthless.

Mmegi:  So what are you doing to ensure that the judicature sees the importance and need to speedily deal with cases involving poaching?MANYEMBA: We are working on roping in the judiciary to help us in this, by dedicating efforts to wildlife cases, even if it would mean having wildlife courts at least to try and bring the poaching situation to low levels.

Mmegi:  Why do poachers focus on elephants and rhinos?Manyemba:  For elephants, it's the tusks they want while rhinos, they take out the horns which they sell in the lucrative black market.

They also take live predator cubs for sale in neighbouring countries which I can't name. We are also informed that there are also special uses of bones of predators. They use them for medicinal purposes. Asia forms the larger portion of the market for rhino horns and elephant tusks.

Mmegi:  In the black market, how much can a live predator fetch?Manyemba:  Between P50,000 and P100,000.

Mmegi:  Which areas are poaching hot spots?Manyemba:  Chobe and Ngamiland is a hot spot for armed cross-border poaching. In Ngamiland there is also to a large extent subsistence poaching by locals. We also have cases in Kweneng, Central and Kgalagadi districts.

Mmegi:  What do you think needs to be done to successfully tackle poaching?Manyemba:  We can't eradicate poaching completely, but its our aim to bring it down to manageable levels. It should be noted that success cannot be measured by the number of arrests, convictions or the number of poachers killed, but the low incidences of poaching cases.

Poaching is a dynamic and multi-faceted evil. There is no best  strategy. A combination of government and communities' efforts to thwart poachers are helpful and we encourage people in communities around wildlife areas to assist us.

Mmegi:  What kind of poachers are of serious concern to the APU and the country at large?Manyemba:  The most menacing are the cross-border poachers. They never hesitate to shoot when challenged.

Mmegi:  Which seasons do poachers prefer to hunt their prey?Manyemba:  The summer season and towards rainy seasons, but subsistence poachers prefer winter because as it is cold, they are able to make biltong and store it under the cold conditions.

Mmegi:  So why do commercial poachers prefer summer? Manyemba:  At this time, you will realise it is when we are in the dry season and animals tend to congregate and they would go to water holes because water is scarce at the time.

That is when the poachers strike. On the other hand, when water is in abundance it is not easy for the poachers to waylay the animals as they are scattered all over because they can water anywhere.

Mmegi:  Can you please tell us what happens in a typical APU patrol mission?Manyemba:  My troops are ready and willing to deal with this problem. If it means taking down a hostile poacher, who refuses to surrender, they will do it and that's self-defence.

Mmegi:  So it is true that you shoot first and ask questions later? Manyemba:  No, that's not true. We challenge them to surrender but if they open fire on us, we return it. This we do in accordance with our training. We are always ready to deal with such eventualities.