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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