Nelson Banya News Editor
In what could be a blatant case of influence peddling, a safari operator has revealed that Policy Implementation Minister Webster Shamu - whose involvement with the HHK Safari company has been the source of controversy - is just a “front man” in the venture who does not own any shares. Shamu’s association with Charles Davy of HHK has focused the spotlight on the company, with calls from both the United States and United Kingdom — regular feeder countries for Zimbabwe’s multi-billion dollar hunting industries - that the safari company’s operations be put under sanctions that have been slapped on government and ruling Zanu PF officials and their businesses. However, HHK managing director Graham Hingeston, who claims Davy is no longer a shareholder in the business, has sensationally told a US hunting journal, The Hunting Report, that Shamu was never a joint venture partner in HHK as has previously been reported. Instead, the senior Zanu PF politician’s involvement was as a token of indigenisation, Hingeston revealed.
“In 1999, HHK Safaris wanted to purchase the hunting rights for Chirisa off Ingwe Safaris, which had purchased the lease on auction in 1994. In order for Ingwe to be allowed to participate in the auction, they had to have an indigenous partner, and this person happened to be Webster Shamu (remember - this was in 1994, a long time before any sanctions were enacted). Ingwe successfully purchased the area on the auction and entered into an agreement with Mr Shamu whereby he received a nominal fee for acting as the front person. The company which held the lease was called Famba Safaris. Mr Shamu signed an agreement abdicating all rights to the Chirisa safari area in terms of management, profit sharing, etc. Understand, Mr Shamu invested not one cent of his own funds into the deal, which is why he was quite happy to sign any agreement,” Hingeston wrote in an e-mail response to The Hunting Report. Shamu has, however, dismissed the assertions as “nonsense.” “Do not be misled. How can he say that? Ndinoita shareholder asina chaakaita?” Shamu protested.
He said he had founded Famba Safaris together with a business associate, the late Richard Makore. “Go to Parks (the Department of Parks and Wildlife Management) and find out when we bought Famba. We bought it and then Richard passed away. His wife assumed ownership of the shares, which she only sold when she relocated. I hold 60 percent of the shareholding in Famba,” Shamu said. Asked about the relationship between Famba and HHK, Shamu said the latter was just a marketing company. He said: “HHK is a marketing company. When you want to sell your quotas you go through a marketing company, that’s all there is to it. You have to realise that when we entered this industry, we had no knowledge of how it works, we had to contract professional hunters and marketers.” However, HHK Safaris says it is a safari operator which incorporates Famba Safaris, among others. “HHK Safaris is one of the top safari operators in Zimbabwe with exclusive marketing and management rights to some of Zimbabwe’s finest hunting and fishing concessions, operating over 15 different camps around the country,” the official company website states. The company, which also lays claim to being the largest safari operator in Zimbabwe, incorporates operations from Birmakino Safaris, Bulembi Safaris, Famba Safaris, Mazunga Safaris, and National Safaris.
HHK has come under increasing pressure from sanctions lobbyists, owing to its links with Shamu. The British press has taken a particular interest in the issue after it emerged that Prince Harry was courting Davy’s daughter, Chelsy. A recent report in the British Mail on Sunday carried a widely reproduced article on “the extent of the wildlife slaughter that has made millions for the family of Chelsy Davy, girlfriend of Britain’s Prince Harry.” The report also made allegations of racism, bribery and foreign currency externalisation against HHK. The company has, in recent months, made efforts to distance itself from Davy and, according to The Hunting Report, Shamu. A statement from the company says Davy is no longer a shareholder or director in HHK following some “structural changes” in 2005. “The shareholders of HHK Safaris are Graham and Anton Hingeston and BTC Safaris, represented by Anthony Crick of Bulawayo and Marty Wood of Monticello, Florida. Bulawayo Trading Company Safari Outfitters (BTC Safaris) is a Zimbabwean registered and owned company. “Graham Hingeston is the managing director of the group, while Anton Hingeston and Anthony Crick join as co-directors of the company,” the company announced in a statement posted on its website. Hingeston was said to be “out of signal range” when The Financial Gazette called his office yesterday.
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