Cecil, the lion: Things not adding up Cecil the Lion
Cecil the Lion

Cecil the Lion

The Arena With Hildegarde
IT takes a village to raise a child. It has taken the global village whose residents are mostly wildlife enthusiasts to mourn the death of Cecil the Zimbabwean lion’s illegal killing in the Hwange National Park.

They did not raise him, but millions around the globe have joined hands to mourn his demise.

Wading into Cecil the Lion discourse might seem like walking along a path walked by many: all ages, race, and gender; some doing so positively, others negatively, but the truth of the matter is that with each passing day since the breaking news of the death of this lion, there have been a number of developments; developments that impact Cecil the lion’s owners, who happen to be Zimbabwean citizens.

Unless you are an animal enthusiast, the 20 million dollar question is why this hue and cry about a Zimbabwean lion? In short, what is the major story behind this story?

Is this merely about wildlife conservation or there is a bigger issue that we are failing to place our fingers on? Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole are facing challenges, but for almost two weeks now, Cecil the Zimbabwean lion has topped mainstream international news headlines.

Initially it was the story of the brutality of the killing of a beautiful lion by a “Spanish” national. A few days later, the true nationality of the lion killer was revealed. Cecil, the king of the jungle had actually been killed by an American dentist, Walter Palmer, who has since gone into hiding if we have to believe everything that we are being told.

I hope that the reader also sees the irony in all this — an American national killed the lion whose name is Cecil — a name that has been associated with former British coloniser, Cecil John Rhodes who at one point gave this country his own name: Rhodesia.

As Zimbabweans, we might have reduced the lion to one of the many totems we have. The late researcher in the Department of African Languages at the University of Zimbabwe, Aaron C. Hodza has several compilations of the Shona praise poetry and this is what he wrote for those whose totem is “Shumba” (the lion) , and sub-totem Nyamuzihwa:

Maita Nyamuzihwa,

Shumba, Hara, maita Muchori.

Maita waNanga wasina mhezi,

Wakabva Buja neMbondwe.

Maita Nechinanga, muzukuru waChakoreka.

Ewo Bonga, waChingate,

Muzukuru waMapahwe, wari Choma,

Ewoyi Shumba, maita Hara.

Maita Bonga rangu riri,

Maita Nyamuzihwa,

Maita wari Mangadza.

Maita wari Dombojawa rina mwarara machena,

Dombo rakaramba kumera uswa nemiti,

Rinoti kukwira munokwira namabvi,

Rina makwapa-kwapa anenge nzira.

Maite zvenyu Shumba,

Chikanda changu chichi,

Maita waTsuri wamasawara.

Kana musipo hapana chinochekwa.

Maita Chiurayi, hekani Chikanda,

Mwana waMukombwe naNohoreka,

Chipfuyawarombo, hekani waNjapa,

Maita mutumbe, Donga, wari Man’anja’

Samanyara,

Zvaitwa Kondovha asingachariki mvura,

Mwana waChinyanga asingaje imwe mbeu,

Kusiya kwezviyo chete.

Maita wari Tsatsa Mukonde,

Aiwa zvaonekwa Nyamuzihwa,

Tikafira pano wani.

Totems and the accompanying praises are a form of identity and a means to tracing one’s roots. The Shumba Nyamuzihwa clan can trace their lineage from this praise poem. But we need to go beyond this.

Wildlife is Zimbabwe’s source of pride. It is part of the rich natural resources that we boast of, just like the rich mineral resources and agricultural land, and human resource base.

They are a resource whose value addition and beneficiation still have to be exploited. We have to unlock the economic value of this heritage.

Why then expect outsiders to come and tell us about these lions when they belong to us? Why do they get Anglo-Saxon names when they are ours? Why are they celebrated elsewhere in life and death when they are ours? Why do they create economic opportunities for others, while we see them as a non-issue?

These are questions posed by some as the global revulsion on the killing of this lion continues. Some people have already appeared in court, and probably the biggest impact on the story was when major international airlines announced this week that they would no longer handle and ship material from trophy hunting from Africa’s ‘big five’ animals: the lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard, and white or black rhinoceros.

This is a big blow for the nation’s tour operators, especially those who specialised in trophy hunting. This is what it means when you don’t originally own an idea and/or own the means of production.

Thus we can least afford to brush the story aside and wonder “what is so special about Cecil the lion.” It is dead, and remains dead, but it has died with part of the tourist industry, the wildlife especially.

And, thanks to Walter Palmer and the power of the international media. His deadly arrow pierced Zimbabwe’s very heart, at a time when the nation is looking at ways of resuscitating the economy.

There might be calls for an Australian Member of Parliament who has also killed Zimbabwean animals in the past to stand down after he remarked that “There has been a complete over-reaction to the death of one lion.”

According to the UK’s Daily Mail, the MP’s comments “outraged hundreds of Australians who have signed an online petition on Change.org asking for him to be sacked from government. An online Facebook page created by the same petition organisers has also attracted thousands of ‘likes’ on the social media platform.”

He also said, “There are issues on our doorstep but for some reason or another, there is the over amplification of social media about one particular lion in a country that has more lions than anywhere else in Africa.”

Since July 28, thousands of people have been signing a petition on WhiteHouse.gov calling on the United States of America government to extradite Palmer to Zimbabwe.

More than 200 000 petitioners have urged Secretary of State John Kerry and the Attorney General, “to fully cooperate with the Zimbabwe authorities and to extradite Walter Palmer promptly at the Zimbabwe Government’s request.”

This was also after the Zimbabwe Government through the Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri told the media that her ministry had already approached the Prosecutor-General to process the papers for the immediate extradition of Palmer.

“We are appealing to the responsible authorities for his extradition to Zimbabwe so that he is made accountable for his illegal actions. As we frantically try to protect our wildlife from organised gangs such as this one, there are people who command respect in the society such as Dr Palmer and Theo Bronkhorst – an experienced licensed professional hunter,” she said.

Indeed, some people have appeared in court including Zimbabwean professional hunter Theo Bronkhorst, there is however that eerie feeling that this is a case playing itself out in the media, whose agenda is yet to be established and whose result is shrouded in the sound and fury, that signifies nothing.

Bronkhorst described the case as “crazy” and “frivolous” and came to Palmer’s defence describing him as a nice guy: “I feel sorry for Palmer. He is a good man. He did nothing wrong.”

Is it a wonder then that very little has come from the White House except a statement that the US Fish and Wildlife Service were “investigating the circumstances surrounding the killing of ‘Cecil the lion?’?” The demands to extradite Palmer have largely been ignored. Imagine the reverse — a black Zimbabwean killing Cecil the lion!

We pandered as they did to the death of this animal. But, visit the National Archives or major libraries like the University of Zimbabwe Library and look for history books and you will see some of the crocodile tears being shed right now.

Apart from abusing people as they colonised Africa, hunting was a major issue. Those trophies are now part of their treasures, and no one has demanded that they be returned to their respective countries.

The Oxford University wildlife research programme has been doing studies on Cecil for the past nine years. The media has chosen to ignore this, but when they made appeals for funding following the death of the lion, donations flowed in, and continue to come.

It does not add up!

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