Just when you thought you may have heard the last about dear old Cecil, everyone having moved on to pens and Stikeez and other things to be outraged about, Jacob Zuma wades back in and reopens some fresh wounds.

Now I don’t need to give you the full account of Walter Palmer and his flimsy ignorance claims, I’ll spare us both the trouble, so let’s just move to discussing what Zuma said in Pretoria last week when responding to a journalist’s question. His response was as follows according to Mail&Guardian:

He said: “What it sounds like from a distance [is] that the hunter did not know that Cecil was so popular, just saw a lion, and killed a lion, and it’s Cecil, and Cecil is very well loved and it caused a problem, because everyone wants to go and see Cecil. I think it’s just an incident [sic].”

Prompting laughter in the room, Zuma quipped: “I was told by somebody that there is a brother of Cecil. Who? There is Jericho. Thanks God, now people will ask if Jericho is among these lions and they will not shoot, I would imagine.

“Really I didn’t think it could become such a big issue, but it is a big issue because Cecil was loved. But I think maybe that the fellow did not know. And he just took a nice lion and it was Cecil”…

He said: “I was wondering, what is the surname of Cecil? But that wouldn’t get an answer. Well, I think Zimbabwe has laws about hunting and everything … It’s a matter that Zimbabweans can deal with the hunters. In every country there is hunting, there are rules, etcetera.”

It sounds like JZ isn’t really all that concerned about the uproar, something that has angered many in Zimbabwe and here at home. Emmanuel Fundira, the president of the Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe, had this response:

[He] said: “I’m surprised that President Zuma would make a such a comment with regard to an animal hunted in a neighbouring country. I find it very undiplomatic and very unfair to comment on a sovereign state.”

Fundira insisted Palmer knew what he was doing when he shot Cecil with a bow and arrow just outside a protected area. He said: “He has hunted lion before and it’s clear he was looking for a lion with a unique and bigger mane. Cecil was a known icon in Zimbabwean tourism. As far as I’m concerned, this was definitely premeditated poaching. It was unethical.”

It seems Fundira expected more condemnation from Zuma, which must mean he doesn’t follow our politics all that closely then. A little bit of good news to finish this piece, some heads finally set to roll:

Palmer has apologised for killing Cecil and appealed to Theo Bronkhorst, the Zimbabwean hunter who led the expedition, for misleading him. Bronkhorst has been charged with failing to prevent an illegal hunt and, if convicted, faces up to 15 years in prison. His trial has been set for September 28.

Palmer may fade from obscurity quicker than many would like, but Bronkhorst could be facing the repercussions of his despicable actions for many years to come.

[source:mg]