Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe
3 November 2008
The Ministry of Wildlife, Environment and Tourism has said it will release details of what transpired at the one-off auction of 44 tonnes of ivory stockpile at the prestigious Phakalane Golf Estate Resort today.
"It was a long process that took the whole day. The Namibian sale, unlike ours took only 15 minutes. At the moment the information I have is scanty, we will be in a position to give detailed information on Monday," Minister of Wildlife, Environment and Tourism, Kitso Mokaila said on Saturday.
The Friday sale, attended by an undisclosed number of Chinese and Japanese buyers started at 8am and went on until 5pm. After the sale, there was an exclusive cocktail party for the buyers and government at the GICC in the evening.
The Friday sale was a secretive event, just like diamonds sales, with no government official willing to talk about it. Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Edmont Moabi, refused to be interviewed during tea break on Friday morning, saying he will issue a press release later.
Entry into the auction site was by invitation only and the media was barred, although a wildlife-filming team was seen in action inside the auction hall.
At the auction in Phakalane Golf Estate Resort's Linyanti Hall, the entrance was heavily guarded by a security company.
Botswana's sale is the second following Namibia's auction, which also attracted Japanese and Chinese buyers last Wednesday. Unlike Botswana though, Namibia announced on the same day of its sale that they generated N$13 million. Seven of Namibia's nine tons of ivory stockpile was sold in the one off sale.
The Namibian media was not allowed to witness the sale but government officials held a press conference where it was announced that the Chinese buyers bought 3.84 tonnes of ivory at a price of US$176 per kilogramme, while the Japanese bought 3.38 tonnes at US$151 per kg.
Zimbabwe will sell four tonnes of ivory, while South Africa is permitted to sell 51 tonnes. Trade in ivory has been banned for decades, but in southern Africa one-off auction of stockpiles is allowed periodically.
The current sale will see 108 tonnes ivory being sold to Chinese and Japanese buyers.
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