AMBASSADOR'S COURTESY CALL ON ZIMBABWE MINISTER OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000066 SIPDIS AF/S FOR BRIAN WALCH NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR MICHELLE GAVIN E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2020 TAGS: PREL PGOV SENV CITES KGHG ZI SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S COURTESY CALL ON ZIMBABWE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT REF: A. HARARE 064 ¶B. HARARE 063 Classified By: AMBASSADOR CHARLES A. RAY FOR REASONS 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (U) The Ambassador paid a courtesy call on Minister of Environment Frances Nhema on January 29 and delivered demarches on the Copenhagen Accord and CITES (Refs). Other discussion focused on land conservancies and indigenization, conservation of rhinos, and the political situation in Zimbabwe. ¶2. (U) Nhema said that in 2000, as land reform was undertaken, Cabinet made a decision to treat wildlife land different from agricultural land. Wildlife land in seven private conservancies, about 1.8 million hectares, was transferred to the Ministry of Environment on condition that indigenization be accommodated. As part of the indigenization process, according to Nhema, conservancy owners are expected to look for partners, partner with local councils, or ask the Ministry for suggestions of partners. The Ministry has not established percentage requirements but looks at each case individually. ¶3. (U) According to Nhema, the only conservancy area that has presented problems as far as indigenization is the Save Valley Conservancy (SVC). Of 26 properties in the SVC, 18 or 19 have been resolved and he is working with the remaining owners to complete the indigenization process. Nhema said that no owners are being unduly pressured and he continues to mediate between them and prospective partners. Any deal must be based on a business negotiation; a government official cannot just impose himself. (NOTE: One of the outstanding conservancy owners is Amcit Weldon Schenck who has told the Embassy that the governor of Masvingo Province and an army official, Lt Col David Moyo, are pressuring him to become partners. According to Schenck, many of the owners who have accepted new partners are white Zimbabweans who fear violent takeovers of their properties. END NOTE.) ¶4. (U) Nhema told the Ambassador that Zimbabwe has lost 50 rhinos over the last two or three years; he said that a population that was once 2000 is now 900. The Parks and Wildlife Service has cut horns and placed tracking devices on rhinos, according to Nhema, but poaching continues. (NOTE: Many of these successful rhino monitoring projects are carried out by local NGOs with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service funding. END NOTE.) Nhema added that he continued to search for solutions. He denied that high-ranking Zimbabwean officials were involved in rhino poaching and said he is trying to determine who is responsible. (NOTE: Nhema's numbers are optimistic and gravely out of date. According to a November 2009 report to the CITES Secretariat by local rhino specialists, Zimbabwe has roughly 700 rhinos -- 300 white and 420 black -- and 235 rhinos have been killed in Zimbabwe since 2006. END NOTE.) ¶5. (U) Turning to politics, Nhema said that the Global Political Agreement had reduced tensions and there now was a more civil discourse between the parties. With Zimbabweans beginning to find common ground, elections should not take Qbeginning to find common ground, elections should not take place next year. The Western world, according to Nhema, wanted to rush Zimbabwe's development, but that would not work; Zimbabwe had to develop at its own pace. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶6. (C) Nhema, who is separated from the daughter of Joshua Nkomo, is considered by some to be a ZANU-PF moderate, but he is reportedly close to Mugabe. He is soft-spoken and comes across as reasonable. He is, however, at least somewhat disingenuous. With respect to conservancies, as noted, we have credible reports that some owners in the SVC are in fact receiving significant pressure to take on local partners, and HARARE 00000066 002 OF 002 Nhema is not playing a neutral role. When we posited to Nhema, again based on credible reports, that ZANU-PF was using intimidation in rural areas to gain support for its positions in the constitutional process, he denied this. In short, he toes the ZANU-PF line. END COMMENT. RAY