Dear Editor
The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on the Speaker of the National Assembly to intervene as directives regarding elephant management at Madikwe Game Reserve has been blatantly defied by North West provincial authorities.
This comes after the North West Parks and Tourism Board (NWPTB) and the provincial Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism (DEDECT) repeatedly ignored six “non-negotiable” directives from Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Forestry, Fisheries and Environment. This was expressed in a letter to the Portfolio Committee Chairperson (available here).
Madikwe’s elephant population has soared from 219 to more than 1 200 over the past three decades, placing severe pressure on the reserve’s ecology. Several elephants were reported in critical condition and euthanised by the NSPCA last year. A Provincial Elephant Task Team was created to produce management recommendations, but key stakeholders – including the NSPCA – have been excluded. Provincial officials continue to promote culling and trophy hunting despite the elephant norms and standards requiring non-lethal options to be exhausted first.
On 10 June, Committee Chairperson Nqabisa Gantsho MP issued six clear directives:
- inclusion of the NSPCA in the task team;
- provision of all previous task team meeting minutes to the NSPCA and written confirmation to the Committee;
- submission of the task team’s oversight visit report;
- submission of a proposed management plan with timelines;
- a written response to the NSPCA’s presentation by 13 June;
- and written responses to Committee questions by 5 July.
Follow-up meetings on 16 and 18 September revealed that provincial authorities had failed to comply. The NSPCA’s exclusion was justified by a secondary Stakeholder Forum rather than the task team itself; written responses were two months late and blamed on the MEC’s Chief of Staff’s sick leave. The remaining directives were ignored entirely.
The DA has written to the Chairperson to escalate the matter to the Speaker and House Chairperson, and called for the task team to brief Parliament directly on its management proposals once finalised this month, alongside the tabling of the Elephant Indaba proceedings.
Officials avoided answering critical questions including: why non-lethal measures, especially contraception (available since 2022 at no cost), have not been implemented; what scientific basis exists for claims of overpopulation; why trophy hunting is being promoted despite its limited effectiveness; and what accountability measures have been taken for the mismanagement.
The communities who rely on Madikwe for jobs deserve transparent, ethical and evidence-based elephant management. Parliament cannot allow this obstinacy to go unchallenged.
The DA remains committed to ensuring that elephant management at Madikwe Game Reserve is ethical, evidence-based and in line with Section 24 of the Constitution.
Regards
Andrew de Blocq MP
DA Spokesperson for Forestry, Fisheries and Environment