In Loving Memory of Moumakwa Calistus Mokobi

The recent shooting of Cecil, the 13 year old lion from Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe has brought the perennial debate on sport hunting versus eco-tourism into sharp focus. Cecil named after British imperialist, businessman and mining magnate, Cecil John Rhodes, was shot by an American recreational big-game hunter, Walter Palmer for approximately US$50,000 in July this year.

Cecil the lion was a major attraction at the park and was being studied and tracked by the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at the University of Oxford. The killing of the big cat for its trophy drew international media attention and sparked outrage and condemnation among animal conservationists and politicians who viewed it as the senseless killing of an endangered species.

For the Mokobi family in Serowe, the furore over the demise of Cecil has been a painful reminder of the death of their son, Moumakwa Calistus Mokobi. Moumakwa was in the prime of his life when he was shot and killed while on a trophy hunting expedition. He was barely out of his teens when a lead-based bullet, propelled from a high calibre hunting rifle raptured his fragile body, snuffing his life and shuttering the dreams and aspirations of a young man who embodied so much vitality and promise. Trophy hunting robbed the family of a son, a brother, a cousin, an uncle and a friend. One can only hope that he died instantly and did not suffer from his wounds.  

Moumakwa was born in 1950, he was the last born son of the late Rev. Hamilton Mokobi and Keitheng Mokobi of Mhashwa ward in Serowe. Moumakwa joined the Department of Wildlife and National Parks as a game scout upon completion of his secondary school education at St. Joseph’s Collage in 1970. He was immediately stationed at Molepolole where he stayed with his civil servant brother, my father Charles Mokobi.

Moumakwa met his untimely death while on duty escorting a German trophy hunter to a hunting concession in the vicinity of Kutse Game Reserve in the Kweneng District. Two scenarios are presented for how Moumakwa met his death. One version is that Moumakwa was fatally struck by a bullet from a loaded rifle that was triggered off accidentally on the rough and ragged road leading up to the concession.

The other is that, spurred on by the sight of teeming rare animal species, the unscrupulous German trophy hunter could not resist the urge to add to his growing collection of trophies by killing an animal that was not on his hunting permit. A man of refined moral and ethical principles, it is said Moumakwa would have none of it and in the heat of the fierce argument that ensued, the hunter shot and killed him.

The political climate that prevailed at the time of the incident gives context to how events unfolded on that fateful day. This was the era of the soured global race relations which evidently played a hand in the argument and subsequent shooting of Moumakwa. The incident happened at the height of the Cold War and the volatile race relations that gave birth to the Civil Rights Movement in the US and the apartheid political regime in South Africa. With liberation wars raging all around Botswana, in South Africa, German South-West Africa (Namibia), Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Angola and Mozambique, the killing of a young native African man by a Caucasian recreational big-game hunter was set to ruffle diplomatic feathers and course consternation for the government of Botswana which was still in the infancy of independent rule from the British colonial masters.

From early childhood, Moumakwa displayed an innate love for nature. As a young boy he revelled in the time he spent at the family ploughing fields in Itsokwane and the cattle post in Leetselente during school holidays. He particularly loved animals and was at home in the savannah rangeland pastures where he herded his father’s cattle and distinguished himself as an avid helping hand in the overall running of the family beef cattle farming enterprise. Charles recalls that Moumakwa was a gifted craftsman whose love for animals was also reflected in the exquisite clay cattle he moulded out of mud.

Raised by disciplinarian parents, the preacher’s son grew up to become a tall, handsome and athletic heartthrob who was hardworking, studious, respectful, loved nature and feared God. Later in life Moumakwa’s love for the unspoiled fauna, flora and timeless beauty of his beloved country drew him to seek temporary employment with the Department of Wildlife and National Parks while he awaited to enrol for tertiary education abroad.

With solid grounding on hard work and ethics, Moumakwa was poised to excel academically and reach dizzy heights in the career of his choice. He took to his job with zeal, a strong sense of duty and commitment of one with a calling to the conservation of the country’s wildlife resources and their habitats. He was undeterred by the inherent danger of death faced every day by Game Park rangers and scouts from the wild animals they protect and the ever-growing band of armed and dangerous poachers and wayward hunters.

Moumakwa was a wildlife conservation foot soldier who died with his boots on. He laid down his life for this country’s natural resources and abundant wildlife. His sacrifice and that of many other Batswana has since seen the country earn high natural resource rankings and the acclaim of being counted among the continents tourism destination of choice.

Botswana has done exceptionally well in the conservation of its natural resources. Today the Department of Wildlife and National Parks has assumed a paramilitary role to combat poaching and the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) has established an anti-poaching unit and has been roped in to assist. These efforts have yielded a biodiversity that supports a vibrant tourism industry which is a vital alternative source of economic growth and diversification. Demand for the country’s tourism products and services has since increased substantially and seen the country play a major role in the growth of the Southern Africa tourism circuit.

Botswana’s international tourism arrivals have grown considerably from 1 million in 2005 to nearly 2.4 million in 2013. As a result travel and tourism plays an increasing role in the country’s economy. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), Botswana’s travel and tourism activities contributed P5.48 billion to the GDP (3.2%) in 2013, while supporting 31,000 jobs.

Looking ahead, the WTTC projects that in the next 10 years, Botswana’s travel and tourism sector will grow 5.8% annually and contribute P10.3 billion by 2024. In the same year, the council expects the sector to account for 41,000 jobs directly, while tourist arrivals will reach 3.9 million.

However, despite tourism’s impressive economic potential and its huge emotional appeal to the growing global market, tourism is under increasing threat of species and habitat loss. Pouching and trophy hunting have been cited as huge setbacks to wildlife conservation and inevitably tourism with those advocating for a ban on hunting suggesting that ecotourism can earn local communities as much as 15 times the amount of money earned by hunting. They contend that ecotourism increases the number of jobs and lengthens the time wildlife exists as an economic resource.

“If the opportunity to kill critically endangered species by trophy hunters as has happened with Cecil the lion proved anything, it is that trophy-seekers will pay an exorbitant amount of money for bragging rights and a head to hang on the wall, instead of using that wealth to preserve and protect wildlife,” observes an irate social media commentator.

Proponents of trophy hunting however argue that a well-managed hunting operation generates economic benefits for the broader community, creates jobs and contributes significantly to conservation. They claim that it, "provides an economic incentive" for ranchers to continue to breed endangered species, and that this reduces the threat of the species' extinction.

Academic Melville Saayman states that hunting, and especially trophy hunting, generates millions - particularly in rural areas where there are high levels of unemployment and poverty. “These hunters are big spenders, investing on average more than US$10 000 per trip, which is considerably higher than the average spending by any other type of tourist,” he states.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recognizes that trophy hunting, when well-managed, can be sustainable and generate significant economic incentives for conservation but warns that when poorly managed, trophy hunting can cause negative ecological impacts for the target species such as altered age and sex structures, social disruption, deleterious genetic effects, and even population declines in the event of excessive off-takes, as well as threaten the conservation and influence the behaviour of non-target species.

The organisation argues that the conservation role of the industry is also hindered by governments and hunting operators that fail to devolve adequate benefits to local communities, reducing incentives for them to protect wildlife, and by unethical activities, such as shooting from vehicles and canned hunting, conducted by some operators which attract negative press and foster support for hunting bans.

As the debate continues, it is clear that most conservation groups, wildlife management experts and African governments support hunting as a way to maintain wildlife. Botswana however is contemplating a ban on hunting. The country continues to be recognised for its conservation efforts and as the President Lt. Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama continues to receive accolades for championing conservation of the country’s wildlife resources and their habitat, the Mokobi family remembers Moumakwa and the many others who sacrificed their lives for this fine resource. 

To honour and celebrate his life, Moumakwas nephews and nieces are putting together a documentary on his life. The family has engaged the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Botswana Police Services, the German Embassy and St. Josephs Collage to help put together the documentary that honours this conservation stalwart. 45 years after his death the debate on hunting for the pot, recreation, or trade rages on. May his soul rest in peace.