South Africa’s president Ramaphosa ‘profits from trophy hunting and breeds rare animals to be shot for cash’

UK exclusive: Trophy hunters last year shot 35,000 animals from 150 protected species worldwide, reports Jane Dalton

A lion killed in a hunt brokered by Tsala Hunting Safaris in South Africa (Peta)

South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa is profiting from a 50 per cent stake in a company that runs hunting safaris and secretly breeds rare “exotic” species to be shot by wealthy trophy hunters, investigators claim.

The president is quietly expanding a trophy-hunting farm where animals are bred with unusual mutations that will fetch higher prices, according to Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) US.

But his team keep quiet about his links to the wildlife shooting business to spare him “bad publicity”, it’s claimed.

The president is already involved in game breeding, as a member of a South African group that auctions animal hunts, called Stud Game Breeders. Phala Phala Wildlife, which is linked to the group, is a privately owned 4,500-hectare wildlife game farm, described by Peta as the president’s “personal wildlife-breeding operation”.

The president denies all the claims he is linked to trophy hunting, insisting they are “patently false”.

But agents from the animal-rights organisation who spent four months in South Africa this year investigating his business links say he is developing a new business for shooting wildlife, named Diepdrift, and stocking it with animals from Phala Phala.

He also co-owns Tsala Hunting Safaris, Peta says, after recording conversations in which Mr Ramaphosa's managers “admit that he shares equally in the profits from all hunts conducted through Tsala and spoke of the importance of concealing his involvement”.

The investigators released an audio clip in which one manager said: “The Phala Phala brand connects to the president, but no one connects us, Phala Phala, to Tsala Safaris.”

The manager reportedly added: “So we try to keep the president's name actually out of the hunting thing because … of all the greenies … So he wanna spare himself this, how can I say, bad publicity and all of that … We gotta do it under a different brand, where none of my name or his name are connected to it.”

A co-owner of Tsala allegedly told a Peta undercover agent that the president received half the profits from all Tsala’s safari hunts since he bought 50 per cent of the company last year.

Tsala, whose website advertises hunts for dozens of species, including a giraffe hunt for $2,800, runs hunts primarily on the Diepdrift property, which is stocked with antelopes, buffaloes, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, civet cats, caracals, warthogs and baboons from Phala Phala, according to Peta.

On other South African properties, Tsala also offers lion and elephant hunts. The company’s website says prices – which include professional guides but not taxidermy – are available on request.

It is believed rhinos may be shot either at Diepdrift or at the lion- and elephant-hunt properties, and leopard-hunting may be done in Namibia and Mozambique.  

Phala Phala’s website states that it breeds animals with mutated colours such as white and black impala, golden wildebeest and black kudu (antelopes), as well as several non-native species – all of which fetch higher hunt fees, experts say.

Mr Ramaphosa’s office issued a statement denying he and Phala Phala had any links to “illegal or unethical activities in any form”.

And it said that in the light of allegations that Tsala engaged in hunting threatened or protected species on other properties, Phala Phala had given notice to Tsala to terminate the hunting arrangement.  

The statement said: “Neither the president nor Phala Phala have a stake in the trophy-hunting industry or in Tsala Hunting Safaris. Phala Phala is a privately owned wildlife farm whose business is breeding game. Tsala are privately owned hunting outfitters.

“Phala Phala has been in operation since 2010 and is run in accordance with the strictest conservation and wildlife management principles.

“Phala Phala’s wildlife breeding and management activities comply with best ethical and lawful practice in the sector.”  

However, a new book claims “there is strong evidence to suggest that Ramaphosa has been involved in breeding exotic animals on his farm for hunting estates”. 

Eight years ago he was quoted by South Africa’s Farmer’s Weekly as saying: “I have some common species of game on my farm, and when I realised that the game industry was beginning to boom, I decided to enter into the more ‘exotic’ side of things. First and foremost because it is an investment.”  

The “exotic” species on his ranch included black impala, white impala, and golden wildebeest.  

The book, called Trophy Leaks: Top Hunters and Industry Secrets Revealed, by Eduardo Goncalves, founder of the UK-based Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, says that breeding hybrids and “exotic” wild animals with special characteristics has become widespread thanks to demand from trophy hunters. Such animals, which command high prices, include lions with blonde or black manes, white lions with pale blue eyes, and golden wildebeest.  

A golden wildebeest trophy hunt can cost US$50,000 (£37,000) – 100 times as much as its more ordinary cousin, Mr Goncalves writes. Other animals popular with shooters include white kudu and coffee-coloured springbok. Barry York, an industry leader, told Business Live: “There’ll always be a premium paid for highly adapted, unique animals.”

According to the book, a spokesman for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in South Africa said the breeding of “mutant” hybrids caused suffering: “White springbok variants are very prone to skin cancer. It’s been scientifically proven that black impala are more susceptible to heat stroke,” he said.

The International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation, a hunting industry lobby group, has criticised the breeding of animals with colour variants, one member calling such creatures “Frankenstein freaks of nature”.

The book, which also claims to identify the world’s leading trophy hunters and outlines the hundreds of animals they have killed, says 268 hunters globally have been presented with a Safari Club International award for killing at least 100 different species.

Last year alone, trophy hunters from 77 countries shot 35,000 animals from 150 protected species.

Mr Goncalves outlines the trophy-hunting industry’s array of awards, including a special prize for shooting more than 80 different African species.

“Others include awards for shooting big cats from all around the globe, including lions, leopards, cheetahs, cougars, and European wild cats,” he told The Independent. “Five hundred hunters have been presented with Safari Club International’s ‘Cats of the World’ prize.

“There’s a prize for shooting different types of bear too, including polar bears.

“Nearly 800 trophy-hunters have won Safari Club International’s African Big 5 prize, for which a hunter has to kill at least one lion, elephant, leopard, a black or white rhino, as well as a buffalo.”

He added: “An animal is today killed by a trophy hunter every three minutes. The hunting industry is fuelling mass slaughter of some of the world’s most threatened animals with sick prizes. It will stop at nothing to protect so-called hunters’ rights, even if it means driving threatened species to the brink of extinction.”

Mr Ramaphosa’s office’s statement added: “Phala Phala undertakes annual culls of game such as impala, buffalo, kudu and wildebeest to avoid carrying excess numbers. Culling is an established wildlife management tool practiced around the globe, including in state-run conservation reserves. 

“Phala Phala entered into an agreement with Tsala Hunting Safaris to hunt the aforementioned game that would in any event have been culled.”

The Independent has also asked his spokesman to comment on claims he is breeding animals with mutations that fetch higher prices.