The Okavango Delta, one of Africa’s prime game areas, is surrounded by vast wildlife concessions. In addition to six Batswana, it has been disclosed that 31 head leases of concessions in total have been allocated to community trusts in the area. In the past, some Batswana complained that most of the prime tourism concessions in the delta have been allocated to foreigners. The Minister of Lands and Water Affairs, Kefentse Mzwinila, told the media during a brief this week that in giving Batswana the head leases, government wants to emphasise that elephant hunting is beneficial to the communities.
Concessions are granted by lease and are managed by safari operators. Strict environmental standards form part of these leases, ensuring a pristine safari environment. Mzwinila also said they had realised in Maun on April 2018 that Batswana community living near wildlife areas were not benefiting from controlled hunting. “We have facilitated this by allocating hunting concessions to Batswana and their companies. We wanted Batswana to take a major part in the Okavango Delta by owning land in those areas. Now, community trusts have leases in the delta so we are changing the face of the Okavango Delta. We want the riches, which come into our country, to fall into Batswana’s arms,” he told the media. Mzwinila emphasised that government has changed the face of tourism and now the owners of the concessions are community trusts. He said the old way of changing leases from one person to another every year was not benefitting the community in those areas. “People didn’t really develop the concessions because of limited time but with the current head leases, people can now look at a period of three years to develop and benefit communities nearby,” he said.
Mzwinila indicated that with the new arrangement, in terms of selling game and trophy hunting, people who possess head leases can freely market their products because everything would have been done in a legal concession. Mzwinila said those who currently have head leases will look for tourism operators who will instead develop the concessions by building facilities such as lodges. He said he will host a press conference in Maun where community trusts will gather. Concessions present an unspoiled Africa to the visitor, with diverse activities on offer. Traditionally, hunting concessions evolved into the photographic, hunting and mixed use concessions. Allocating the concessions to Batswana comes at a time when United Kingdom’s controversial Trophy Hunting (Import Prohibition) Bill passed through the House of Commons at a second reading in March.
The Hunting Bill seeks to ban the importation of legally obtained wildlife trophies from Botswana and other African countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Tanzania and South Africa. In March, Environment and Tourism minister, Dumezweni Mthimkhulu, travelled to the UK as part of a large African delegation to lobby against the ban. Mthimkhulu argued that the Bill would be counterproductive and discourage those living with wildlife from conserving and protecting them. The Bill has been discussed and its implications on local communities living close to wildlife. President Mokgweetsi Masisi, was even quoted by British media in March expressing concerns about the proposed trophy hunting ban, labelling it as "condescending" and a "resurgence of colonial conquest".
