Forestry halts 'illegal' logging

The forestry department of the agriculture ministry confirmed yesterday that trucks belonging to Chinese outfit New Force Logistics carrying possibly illegally harvested wood had been stopped at Katima Mulilo.

The head of the forestry department, Joseph Hailwa, said “some containers loaded” with timber had been stopped “until we can sort out the problem”.

Investigative reporter John Grobler posted on his Facebook page that the trucks were on their way to Walvis Bay from Katima Mulilo and urged traffic police at Divundu and Kongola to be on the lookout for the trucks, which he claimed were loaded with trees illegally felled in the Katima Mulilo area.

Grobler posted that the Chinese owner of New Force Logistics, alleged wildlife and timber trafficker Hou Xue Cheng, was “utterly illegally and without the necessary permits” logging the precious trees, saying Cheng would want to move the timber out of a lumberyard as soon as possible before he could be stopped there.

According to the agriculture ministry New Force Logistics never obtained a logging permit and neither had the ministry agreed to sell any trees to the company.





New Force Logistics reportedly started cutting down precious African rosewood and teak trees within the 1 700-hectare site for which joint venture MK Capital Investments/Okalongo Investment got a de-bushing and ripping tender at Katima Farm and Liselo irrigation project.

One of the shareholders of the joint venture, Leonard Iipumbu, who is the government's chief of protocol, would not comment on the tender or on New Force Logistics' involvement in the logging, saying he does not respond to “rumours”.

Nelius Becker of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) said according to the general conditions of the contract with the joint venture, “all waste material” can be removed from the site being cleared for an irrigation project.



The contractor – the joint venture in this instance – can price the selling of wood harvested from large trees located within the irrigation fields provided that this is requested from the ministry.



The community and forestry experts have complained that many of the trees now being removed are irreplaceable and questioned the sanity of removing these trees.



“It is true that some of the trees are protected; however, the government has decided to change that particular area of land use from forested land to a crop-production area.



“It is not easy or productive to produce agricultural crops while the forest covers the land being cultivated. Thus the procedure was followed to undertake an environmental impact assessment study and advertise the work, and the area is to be cleared to pave the way for crop production, resulting in some of those protected trees being removed,” the agriculture ministry said.



Human rights organisation NamRights reported in mid-June that New Force Logistics was continuing undeterred to cut down protected Mukula trees in broad daylight and with the full knowledge of the police and the forestry department.



From pictures provided by NamRights, it would, however, appear that the timber logged by the company is the equally precious African rosewood, which is highly sought after in China.



The executive director of NamRights, Phil ya Nangoloh, said New Force Logistics first transported the logs on a flatbed truck. When that attracted too much attention, he said, the company started using closed shipping containers.



Ya Nangoloh said it would appear that the Chinese company was bribing local chiefs to illegally cut down the trees.



A Chinese national attached to New Force Logistics, only identified as Josy for he would not give his full name, denied that the company was cutting any trees but admitted that it was transporting the logs to Walvis Bay.



“It is not me cutting the trees,” Josy insisted. “MK Construction has a permit; not me. My company transports the load only.”



Josy said the logging was happening within the boundary of the tender site.



“Why not?” Josy offered.



This, however, was questioned by Willem Odendaal, coordinator of the Legal Assistance Centre's Land, Environment and Development (LEAD) project.



Odendaal said an informant had alerted the LAC that the illegal logging was taking place outside the boundary of the de-bushing tender.



Hailwa yesterday confirmed that some logging had “exceeded the boundary” of the tender site and admitted that some of the logging took place in the area of the Caprivi State Forest.



He said an agreement had been reached 10 days ago that all logging would be stopped until the forestry directorate could give “proper guidance” about where logging could take place.



However, no arrests were so far made because it is a “very complex matter” involving a number of players involved, Hailwa said.