Windhoek
A newly-established anti-poaching initiative is calling on the government to legalise the private ownership of endangered black rhinos – an idea that has however been shot down by the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta.
The initiative, which was founded in May this year – named COVER (Conserving Our Valuable Elephant and Rhino) – has received negative feedback from the public and is regarded as a “secret anti-poaching group”, but its founding member, Jofie Lamprecht, says this is not true.
Lamprecht yesterday defended COVER, saying it is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the conservation of Namibia’s elephant and rhino.
Currently in Namibia no black rhino may be privately owned and all are owned by the government.
Lamprecht charged that black rhinos, of which there are only about 5 000 left in the world, with Namibia having the majority, should be allowed to be privately owned, which would see endangered species receiving added protection.
“We also want to see black rhinos in the hands of private individuals. Currently the black rhino is in the hands of government. We have no hidden agendas. We are open. COVER currently only has access to protect white rhinos. We have also been criticised for only protecting white rhinos,” Lamprecht, who is a professional hunter, said.
When contacted for comment the environment minister Shifeta said the ministry welcomes the private sector in anti-poaching activities, but said no private individual may own a black rhino.
“Government cannot legalise the private ownership of black rhinos. To give ownership cannot happen, these are endangered species. We only give people (commercial or communal) custodian of the black rhino, but they belong to the state. Our policies do not allow it. It is not good to allow people to own critically endangered species,” he remarked.
Lamprecht claims he has given their project documentation to Shifeta and his deputy minister, Tommy Nambahu, but Shifeta said he does not know the people behind COVER, as he has not officially met them.
“They did not officially come to us. If they are people who are supporting anti-poaching efforts, we welcome them, but officially I have not met them. They are welcome to help, as long they do it within the framework of the law. If they have to train security people for anti-poaching, they have to get permission from the security agents of the country,” Shifeta said.
Further, COVER is also calling for the legalisation of the trade in rhino horn and elephant ivory in Namibia. Currently Namibia has a stockpile of both rhino horn and elephant ivory, which is worth millions of dollars.
“Namibia could currently offer supplies from our stockpile to people who want to dehorn the rhino. We could supply the needed 3 000 horns from rhinos that are either long dead or still living,” Lamprecht reasoned.
In this regard, Shifeta said government is unhappy to have stockpiles of rhino horn and ivory.
“There are some organisations fighting to ban completely the sale of rhino and elephant products. We are faced with this problem, we are now campaigning for Namibia to be allowed to have a one-off sale. We are the process of negotiating – it’s done on an international level. There is no market to sell them legally until CITES gives that permission,” Shifeta said.
COVER has also been linked to a South African based company called Security Solutions Africa, whose members are accused of being “mercenaries”, but Lamprecht rubbished this claim as “untrue”.
“COVER has been criticised for not allowing cellphones or other electronic devices in our meetings. This is for security purposes. We have privileged information on the location of rhino and elephant that we want to keep secret,” he explained.