At press time, the bad news was the second court date that was supposed to "unlock" the jam-up over hunting-area allocations came and went with no action being taken. Seems the principals involved said they were simply "not ready" again to deal with the problem. The judge reluctantly gave them another date (April 30), but he warned them that they had to be ready to deal with the issues then or they would be "held in contempt."
Exactly what all this means (other than the obvious fact that a chronic paralysis has set in over the issue of allocating safari areas) is anyone's guess. Interestingly, an eyewitness tells us one of the principals in the case gave as an excuse for postponement the imminence of an "important announcement from the government." Was this the word we have all been waiting for? Was it indeed about to be made? Any news that breaks will be on our web site.
Clearly, Zambia has to take action quickly or lose another year of hunting and the revenue associated with it. Already, we are told, game scouts are not being paid. ZAWA is reportedly flat broke. We are going to lose this country and its wildlife if something isn't done quickly. Stay tuned...
........(continued)
