The Namibian government is about to embark on a massive culling of desert-adapted elephants, giraffes, hippos and other various wildlife in its parks in what is to be largest mass-cull of wildlife in Namibian history.

The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism will sell some of this mass culling as trophy hunting opportunities to wealthy foreigners, which will include the hunting of the last mature desert elephant bull known as Bennie as one of 15 elephants of the last surviving 120 desert elephants to be shot out.

This is being done in what is claimed to be a drought alleviation program to reduce pressure on grazing and water resources. The meat from the about 730 animals the MEFT plans to cull is to be distributed among local rural communities as drought aid food.

While it is true that Namibia is experiencing yet another periodic drought, the MEFT's policies of allowing wildlife to be harvested in large numbers since 2011 has wiped out all the wildlife except elephants and giraffes in the north-western Erongo and Kunene regions. 

Similarly, over-hunting and poaching has decimated game populations in all other communal areas, with only small pocket surviving in the smaller national parks like Mangetti, Khaudom, Mudumo and Nkasa Rupara National Park.

This program is being embarked up without any prior environmental impact assessment or recent, reliable game counts or any consideration of the economic impact on Namibia's N$14.2 billion tourism economy,  the largest source of jobs in a country with a 36% unemployment rate and where  more than 50% of the youth cannot find jobs.

It is also false to claim that game like elephants and giraffes compete with the rural communities' small cattle and goat herds, which herds are at any rate not allowed to be kept inside any national parks.

However, this is an election year in Namibia and the ruling SWAPO party is facing increasing rejection from voters, with their political support mostly coming from the rural communal areas that is to receive this culling meat. 

The only logical conclusion is that SWAPO plans to exploit and potentially wipe out what is a fragile and very rapidly shrinking wildlife resource to bolster its shrinking political support at the polls on November 29.   

This amounts to an act of ecological despoliation undertaken without regard for the wider economic and environmental impact this will have on Namibia. 

 MEFT must halt any plans to cull wildlife immediately and employ solutions that benefit all parties including Namibia's wildlife.