The involvement of influential government operatives appears to be one of the reasons poaching in Zimbabwe is on the rise, according to a report by investigative journalist, Julian Rademeyer, published in Conservation Action Trust reports.
On November 24, two police sergeants – Robert Shumba and Vengai Mazhara – headed to a homestead near Chipinge Safari Area in Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands after being tipped off that a poacher armed with an AK-47 had been spotted in the area. Shumba and Mazhara died in a hail of bullets.
A month later, the police arrested the man alleged to have supplied the AK-47 used in the killings, Munashe Mugwira, an operative for the country’s much-feared Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).
Following an attempt to evade arrest, Mugwira went to court, yet kept his position at the CIO. He then moved into illegal poaching. On December 13, 2015, a suspected poacher was arrested after a shoot-out in the Savé Valley Conservancy in the south of the country. In his statement, the suspect John Chisango, told police that Mugwira had supplied him and four others with AK-47s and .303 hunting rifles to “kill rhinos”. The serial numbers had been filed off the weapons.
Chisango also implicated Mugwira in the poisoning of elephants.
Mugwira is now facing trial, but the application of laws has typically been uneven and police, prosecutors and magistrates are easily bribed.
According to conservationists, there is evidence that corrupt game scouts and poachers have regularly sold horns and tusks to CIO operatives.
Finally, the alleged involvement of the influential CIO, which has historically acted as a secret police for the presidency, adds to this mix of dynamics aggravating Zimbabwe’s poaching crisis.
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