Two weeks after the government announced that hunting of wildlife in the country would be banned next year, chairman of Sankuyu Community Trust in Ngamiland Haku Galesengwe has warned that the ban is likely to lead to retrenchment of staff in their Community Trust and abandonment of projects they are currently carrying out.
He said this is because the Trust is heavily dependent on funds they make from selling hunting quotas they are given by the Department of Wildlife.
“The ban automatically means collapse of a trust like ours which to a large extent derives money from sale of hunting quotas. If you take that from them, they will obviously collapse and the results of what we have achieved so far will be erased,” he said.
The Trust currently employs 39 people in their camp site and cultural village all which he says rely on money from hunting to survive. Besides the 39, there are 30 people who carry out hunting and skinning duties and are also likely to be affected by the hunting ban.
On the projects they are currently undertaking with resources from sale of hunting licenses, he said that they were currently engaged in construction of water borne toilets in the village and have so far constructed 20 and were planning to continue doing so.
“Unless we get some funding from somewhere else this project will cease to operate,” he said.
He also complained that that they were not consulted on the ban. “This thing was finalized without enough consultation with our communities and it is unfortunate,” he said.
Galesengwe also said that he doubts the accuracy of the report that animal population were decreasing at an alarming rate.
