Minister denies cheetah hit-and-run

Deputy minister Mcebisi Skwatsha's department has lashed out at a Facebook claim by Wildlife at Risk International (War) his ministerial vehicle had struck the cheetah on Tuesday around lunchtime. File picture: COURTNEY AFRICA

Deputy minister Mcebisi Skwatsha's department has lashed out at a Facebook claim by Wildlife at Risk International (War) his ministerial vehicle had struck the cheetah on Tuesday around lunchtime. File picture: COURTNEY AFRICA

Published Apr 30, 2016

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Johannesburg - Who killed a cheetah in the Kruger National Park in a brazen hit-and-run?

Not Mcebisi Skwatsha, deputy minister of rural development and land reform, who has never visited the park in his life.

On Friday, Skwatsha’s department lashed out at a Facebook claim by Wildlife at Risk International (War) his ministerial vehicle had struck the cheetah on Tuesday around lunchtime.

“Deputy Minister Skwatsha has never even visited the Kruger National Park in his life. He was not there on April 26 when the cheetah was killed.

“It’s public knowledge that on Tuesday he was present in Parliament in Cape Town for the budget vote of the department,” the department said.

War, it continued, had “made no attempt to contact the deputy minister to clarify their false allegation before publishing it.

“(The) deputy minister expects an apology for making this false allegation, failing which he will take further action”.

The wildlife body posted an article from community newspaper Lowvelder, citing department officials who confirmed while officials did attend a meeting in the Kruger on Tuesday, “none were involved in the accident”.

Kruger Park spokesman William Mabasa said: “There were no ministers in Skukuza this week. It’s rumour-mongering. The story it was a minister or government official is hogwash.

“What we really want is for any eyewitness to tell us what they saw so we can get hold of the person who killed the cheetah and deal with the person in the way that we’re supposed to.”

Ken Robertson, a DA MP, wrote on the wildlife group’s Facebook page Skwatsha could not be responsible as the animal was hit about 1pm.

“Regarding the cheetah that was hit and killed … Skwatsha from the ANC was sitting with me in Parliament at 2pm on the same day, so it could not have been him.”

Saturday Star

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