At a time when Zimbabwe is being ravaged by mass poisoning of elephants, Environment, Water and Climate  Minister Oppah Muchinguri has lashed out announcing that the country has too many elephants and the population needs to be reduced.
Speaking during the latest pre-Budget seminar for MPs in Victoria Falls, Minister Muchinguri appeared loudly encouraging the same menacing poachers when she said the country’s elephant population exceeds 80,000 and is unsustainable. She said, “we exported elephants to China and there was backlash from America. But we are glad that they are also importing. They imported elephants from Swaziland as we speak. So now we can challenge them that they are denying us from exporting to China yet they are importing.”
She continued, “so we will keep promoting the sale of live animals because it’s part of our act that we must do spot hunting and also export live animals because it’s the most sustainable way of keeping our sizes very low because 80 000 elephants is unsustainable since our environment is being destroyed.”
 
Roping in the army?
She however promised she will be roping in the army to complement rangers and also the University of Zimbabwe – expected to come up with a wildlife tracking system.
As such, helicopters and drones will be deployed to the national parks while the wildlife tracking system will be used to monitor animals’ movements.
“We have now roped in the army and you will see a very serious operation which should send a warning to these poachers that we are now very serious,” said Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri.
“You will see helicopters in the national parks. I have also been advised that drones have already been bought that cover 40km. This means that where we were supposed to have so many rangers, we will just be using one drone.
“We are also working with the University of Zimbabwe to have a tracking equipment so that we can see elephants from Harare. Once we see a suspicious movement, we immediately advise the Air Force to deploy a helicopter right away. We are very sophisticated now.”
 
Idle army
Meanwhile Buhera South MP  Joseph Chinotimba addressing the same subject said Government must deploy the army to the national parks “There is peace in Zimbabwe and our security forces are idle in the barracks at a time our elephants are being poached. We see our soldiers building schools yet we have critical points that need attention,” he said.
He continued, “why can’t we take a 20 000-strong force and deploy them in Gonarezhou and Hwange National Parks to bust these poaching syn- dicates?
“We are already paying these soldiers and they have the resources such as helicopters that they must use to fight these poachers.
“We want the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate and the Ministry of Defence and that of Home Affairs to deliberate over this and see how they can curb this poaching. We want our security forces to go to these critical points,” concluded Chinotimba.