Namibia: Shifeta wants Hambukushu cattle out of Bwabwata

THE minister of environment, forestry and tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, says the ministry will not allow traditional authorities to have cattle in Bwabwata National Park in north-eastern Namibia. “The reason why we are rejecting cattle in the park is not because the ministry does not want people to graze there but it is for economic reasons and to protect the beef industry,” said Shifeta.“Bwabwata National Park stretches down to the east up to the Divundu area, which is an infected area of foot-and-mouth disease,” said Shifeta.He announced this yesterday during a meeting with the parliamentary standing committee on constitutional and legal affairs, when addressing a petition of the Hambukushu Traditional Authority which was submitted to the National Assembly in November 2021.In the petition the traditional authority requested the Cabinet to revisit its 1999 decision that no cattle be allowed in national parks or any other game park in the north-east. In the petition, Hambukushu fumu ...