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By IOL Reporter 
2h ago
Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa has been accused of raising and selling animals to be shot and killed in his Phala Phala wildlife breeding operation.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), a US nonprofit animal rights organization, said in a statement Friday that a secret investigation revealed that Ramaphosa also owns a stake in a hunting company called Tsala Hunting Safaris. .
PETA, which objects to the view that animals are nothing more than trophies or merchandise, claims that Ramaphosa and his employees have gone to great lengths to conceal their trophy hunting ties to this “sport of colonial blood” from the public.
South African environmental authorities do not issue permits to hunt leopards, but Tsala Hunting Safaris still organizes leopard hunts in Namibia and Mozambique, PETA alleged. Tsala also organizes hunting for 42 different species, including the “Big Five,” PETA said.
“PETA has exposed, through a secret investigation, that President Cyril Ramaphosa not only breeds and sells animals to be shot and killed in his Phala Phala wildlife farming operation, but also owns a stake in a hunting company. called Tsala Hunting Safaris, “it reads.
That company conducts many of its hunts on a property called Diepdrift, which Ramaphosa owns and which is quietly developing and expanding. There, in addition to associated properties, Tsala can organize hunting for 42 different species, including the ‘Big Five’: leopards, elephants, lions, rhinos and buffalo.
Ramaphosa and his employees have gone to great lengths to conceal their trophy hunting ties from the public. PETA US recorded conversations in which their managers, Hendrik Von Wielligh and Rouan Nel, admit that they equally share the profits from all the hunts conducted through Tsala and discussed the importance of concealing their involvement.
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” One said, ‘We try to keep the president’s name out of the hunt issue because… of all the greens…. So you want to save yourself this, how can I say, bad publicity and all that. So … we have to do it with a different brand, where none of my name or his are connected to it … That is why we will always keep Phala Phala and Diepdrift and Tsala Safaris separate from our Phala Phala brand. ”
PETA Senior Vice President of International Campaigns Jason Baker said: “The secret surrounding President Cyril Ramaphosa’s investment in trophy hunting operations, fueled by his breeding operation, speaks to the immorality and unsustainability of the sport. of colonial blood.
” South Africans must be aware that the President is directly benefiting from hunting the country’s most revered and iconic species.
” In South Africa, animals, including elephants, can leave an unfenced national park where they are protected and be shot as soon as they cross that invisible boundary.
” PETA is campaigning for a ban on trophy hunting, including hunting the ‘Big Five’, and calls for it to stop at least on properties around the parks, where hunting and tour guides communicate with each other. yes to prevent tourists from seeing recent murders.
“It is a total scam: tourists may think their money is helping animals, but the ‘protected’ animals they saw on their safari could die the next day.”
In 2018, Ramaphosa sold a buffalo for R4.1 million at the Stud Game Breeders auction in Limpopo, and two others brought in R5.9 million combined.
Repeated attempts to obtain comment from the Presidency were unsuccessful.
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