VEILED AGENDAS: MEC snubs Parliament as North West elephant cull plan forges ahead

The North West provincial government has bypassed the country's Parliament as it moves forward with a plan to cull nearly 1,000 elephants in Madikwe and Pilanesberg. The North West MEC for economic development, environment, conservation and tourism, Bitsa Lenkopane, has been notably absent from key parliamentary meetings discussing the plan.

Instead of providing full information, the department has submitted incomplete reports and failed to meet deadlines for crucial details, undermining Parliament's ability to scrutinize the controversial management strategy.

Parliamentary committee chairperson Nqabisa Gantsho expressed frustration, stating that multiple commitments made by the department have not been fulfilled. DA MP Andrew de Blocq pointed out that this is the second week in a row the MEC has missed a key meeting, forcing a postponement of the agenda item. He also criticized the MEC for failing to provide costs or deadlines for the plan, which could result in the mass culling of elephants.

The elephant culling plan includes several options such as translocation, contraception, lethal removal, and hunting. With the MEC absent and key reports withheld, the parliamentary committee was left to rely on a presentation based on a task team report that the committee had not received. De Blocq questioned the completeness of the report and when it would be made public, expressing concern that the province is not being transparent about the full range of considerations evaluated.

The failure to provide a costed implementation plan, clear funding details, and measurable community benefits has been highlighted as a lack of accountability. MK Party MP Siyabonga Mkhize emphasized that without this information, the plan lacks transparency and cannot be fully scrutinized by Parliament. He also noted that the province still has no publicly available report on concession agreements, land claims, transformation, community benefits, and the final elephant task team findings, which were due nine months ago.

The exclusion of the National Spokesman for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) from the Provincial Elephant Task Team has been a source of contention. Committee member Andrew de Blocq criticized this decision, stating that communities, who are significant landowners, should have a voice in the recommendations affecting tourism, cultural sites, and the environment. The NSPCA had already been excluded from the task team and had not been given access to the team's minutes.

De Blocq emphasized that this exclusion, along with the MEC's absence and incomplete reports, suggests a provincial government that views oversight by the highest legislative body as an inconvenience. He expressed disappointment that this presentation is not a comprehensive collection of scientific recommendations but rather a lack of accountability from the provincial government.