Mangochi villagers seek court respite on elephant’s translocation

Report by Nyasa Times. 

People of Mangochi are protesting Malawi government’s  move with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to move over 60 elephants from the district on the southern shores of Lake Malawi to a wildlife reserve and have seeking a court injunction restraining the move.

IFAW and government plans to move the elephants from Phirilongwe to Majete game reserve enraging villagers who have sought legal representation.

The injunction being obtained on behalf of the people of Mangochi by ruling DPP official in the district, Ian Khama, has been lodged at the High Court Monday morning.

The enraged villagers have sought the services of Ralph and Arnold’s law firm to seek an injunction stopping the relocation of the elephants pending submission of an Environmental Impact Assessment and halt the elephant move by IFAW, Conservation Solutions and Malawi government.

“These are our elephants they have always been here, there are more than 70, they are in good condition and do not present a danger unless provoked,” the villagers protest in a letter to Department of Environment Affairs. “We appeal to you take immediate action and stop this group from proceeding with the move without a proper investigation to whether the removal of these elephants is beneficial to our future now and in the long term.”

“We are fully aware that we have the right to demand an Environmental Impact Assessment as concerned citizens as stipulated by law in the Environmental act. Any project of this type has a major impact on the environment and an Environmental Impact Assessment should be mandatory,” reads the letter.

“We the people of Malawi demand this Environmental Impact Assessment to be undertaken because we are positive that these elephants are crucial to the sustainability and development of the area and Malawi as a country,” the letter further reads.

“Majete [game reserve] has many elephants already so we believe they intend to breed and sell, each elephant is at least the price of a new 4×4 vehicle and some the price of a Hummer,” said one of the villagers.

Villagers also want the court to examine whether IFAW are paying tax to Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) on these large figures and whether they have a license to do business and if they are registered.

The local chiefs want the elephants to stay but government seems to have ignored the people’s wish thereby using the original funds from World Bank intended for a fence to move 10000 DPP supporters from Lhomwe districts of Mulanje and Phalombe to the Yao land at Phirilongwe, Nankumba Mangochi elephant area.

Chiefs in the area have also complained that their stamps have been forged and used to officialize a threat from the Muslim community directed at a pork butcher recently.
Villagers argue that if the area is protected and well managed the elephants will attract many more tourists, thereby generating local jobs in the tourism industry

“We the people of Mangochi, Nankumba and Mponda envision the future southern lakeshore area as becoming a world class tourist destination and we realize that without the elephants we will not fulfill the requirements to attract multitudes of visitors and we will remain under developed and unknown to the rest of world,” reads the letter.
The villagers fear that the removal of the elephants will result in encroachment and degradation of the forestry area.

“We strongly believe that once this vast, hilly and wooded landscape is deforested it will result in massive siltation and pollution of the waters of the south of Lake Malawi, resulting in even smaller catches of fish, the destruction of good swimming areas, mud on our main tourism beaches and the homes of our protected and world renowned mbuna fish too polluted for them to survive in,” said the letter by villagers.

However, IFAW argue that the elephants are coming into direct conflict with the human communities and human and elephant lives hang in the balance, as a consequence.

“Some elephants have had their trunks amputated by snares set by local villagers, while others are suffering from wounds caused by bullets, arrows and nail-embedded planks as well as poisoning,” Jason Bell-Leask IFAW’s southern Africa director said in a statement announcing the elephant rescue operation.

“In order to save these elephants, we must act now - otherwise they will be killed as “problem animals,” he said.

IFAW said it will dart and tranquilize the elephants and then load them into vehicles for the six-hour journey to Majete Wildlife Reserve in the south-west.