PRESS RELEASE

9 January 2003

Last Chance

For Enkosini Lions

Unless public pressure can be brought to bear upon the National Council of the SPCA or the Mpumalanga provincial nature conservation department (MPB), the 8 Enkosini lions will have to be darted and moved to an inferior temporary facility near Johannesburg on 15th January, 2003. All this for the sake of 19 days, because the review of the refusal by MPB to issue permits to Enkosini will be heard in the Pretoria High Court on 4th February, 2003. Leaving the lions where they are happy and settled pending the review is evidently too kind and sensible a course of action for officials who submitted in the High Court recently that the Enkosini lions were mere "objects."

The National Environmental Management Act, 107 of 1998, (NEMA) sought to convert an authoritarian, para-military system of nature conservation into a democratic institution by removing the power to make decisions from officials and giving it instead to the "interested and affected communities" (in this case, the animal welfare community). The section 2 principles of NEMA, which override all other legislation, such as the provincial permit system, require all organs of state to "promote public participation in wildlife management" and to "consult with all interested and affected parties" in all such matters.

The effect of NEMA is summed up by the author of a book Environmental Law for All as follows: "Officials have lost the right to make decisions based on the exercise of their own discretion. It is now the affected communities that make the decision. Officials are now only facilitators." And the animal welfare community has made it clear - all eighteen organizations thereof - that it wants predator sanctuaries like Enkosini to be recognized and promoted by conservation authorities.

In peremptorily refusing Enkosini's application for permits, the MPB officials acted on their own discretion, in defiance of their legal obligations under the new democratic laws. Having been caught with their undemocratic fingers in the authoritarian till, so to speak, the MPB officials must in our view lose the review case.

The lions will then have to be darted yet again - a life-threatening exercise - and taken back to the pleasant surrounding where they are being well cared for at present.

As the Enkosini case shows so clearly, nature conservation in South Africa may accurately be likened to a demented dog guarding the gates to wildlife management. This dog spends most of its time snarling and snapping at any concerned citizens or communities who wish to enter. The rest of its time is spent licking the arses of the hunting fraternity, who pat it on the head and say "Good Dog". A distant voice, that of Parliament in Cape Town, calls out "Let the people in" but this dog recognizes only one master.

We hope that many TV and newspaper reporters are there at Enkosini near Lydenberg on 15th January to report on the wholly unnecessary darting and removal of theses lions, and to expose to South Africans the democratic delinquency of the nature conservation officials, and that of their fellow bureaucrats in the National Council of the SPCA, whose conduct in this Enkosini affair has been nothing short of disgraceful.

For the sake of democracy, if not for pity's sake, don't just sit there - do something.

Telephone or write:

Mpumalanga Parks Board: Tel – 013.759.5300, Fax – 013.759.5490

National Council of SPCA: nspcadir@global.co.za, Tel - 011.907.3592

MEC Candith Mashego-Dlamini: mec@nelagri7.agric.za, Tel - 013.767.1206

Premier Ndaweni Mahlangu: nmahlangu@prem.mpu.gov.za, Tel – 013.766.2493

Onkgopotse Tabane, spokesman for Minister Valli Moosa: tabane@iafrica.com

Contact Details:

Chris Mercer

Kalahari Raptor Centre

Tel: 053 712 3576

Email: krc@spg.co.za