ONCE a haven of international tourists, Denlynian and Tamari Wildlife sanctuary in Beitbridge is now desolate -- most of the game poached and equipment looted.

Zebra carcasses are strewn around and the antelope population is badly depleted.

This was once a prime wildlife conservancy with the highest density of game per kilometre, not only in Matabeleland South but in the whole country.

And it is not only the wildlife that has been destroyed.

Window and door frames of a luxurious safari hotel which was under construction in the conservancy have been ripped out and stolen while broken water pipes are scattered everywhere.

Solar panels, water pumps and a 7-km strand game fence, among other equipment, have also been looted.

Conservancy owner Ian Ferguson blames the collapse of his multi-million dollar project on an invasion by landless blacks, mostly Zanu PF supporters and war veterans in the area.

Sources said most land invasions in Matabeleland South were at the instigation of greedy senior Zanu PF officials in the province who wanted to take over the well-maintained conservancies.

In a letter to former Co-Minister of Home Affairs Giles Mutsekwa on June 9, Ferguson begged the minister to urgently intervene to stop the poaching and looting of equipment warning this could soon result in an ecological disaster.

He said the remains of zebras, which are killed for their hides, are lying all over the farm while antelope, eland, kudus, impala and the crocodile population have been seriously depleted by poachers. The conservancy also has animals such as bushbucks, cheetahs, baboons, springhares, wildebeest and warthog, among others.

White commercial farmers in central and south-west Zimbabwe were being hounded off their farms, said Ferguson.

Their families are being humiliated and arrested for no apparent reason, he said. "I am appealing to you as the custodian of the rule of law in Zimbabwe to use your office to urgently intervene to put a stop to ethnic cleansing which is rampant across the central, and in our case, the south-west of Zimbabwe," he said.

Mutsekwa, who has since been replaced by Theresa Makone as MDC-T's Co-Home Affairs Minister, left his post before he could look into the matter.

Officials at the farm say the conservancy has lost an estimated US$630 000 through the cancellation of tourism and hunting quotas, theft of equipment and rampant poaching in the past few months.

They said revenue lost amounted to an estimated US$1,9 million over the past eight years.

Ferguson said the wildlife conservancy was being invaded and looted in defiance of High Court orders and rulings by the South African Development Community (Sadc) Windhoek Tribunal.

The court order was issued in 2007 and shortly afterwards a spoliation order was applied for and granted.

But local police have not been of any help either.

"The police, obviously following instructions from higher authority are ignoring court orders. . . they refused to give the deputy messenger of the High Court escort to carry out his duties," said Ferguson in the letter.

Repeated efforts to get reactions from Makone and Co-Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi, who hails from Matabeleland South, were fruitless as their mobile phones were not reachable.

But Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) president Deon Theron said what is happening at the conservancy was a good example of looting underway on commercial farms being seized from their owners.

"We have brought this issue to authorities several times but it seems the care about productivity, animal welfare and natural resources is last on the minds of politicians," he said.

Theron said the police were reluctant to act against the people accused of looting because they get protection from a senior politician who works in collusion with South African nationals to smuggle their loot.

He said over 100 Zebras have been killed in the past few months "for their hides which are a valuable trophy".

Ferguson said besides being deprived of their homes and livelihoods the farmers, their families and workers were extremely traumatised by the treatment they got from the land invaders.

"This whole barbaric and uncivilised exercise that has been going on for 10 years now is no more or less than ethnic cleansing of white Zimbabweans and any other white nationals," he wrote.

Ferguson bought the Denlynian and Tamari farms in the Zhove Dam area from Lemco Ranch some 24 years ago after the government, on three separate occasions, issued letters of no interest because it was deemed unsuitable for cattle ranching purposes.

Then, the property comprising 17 500 hectares, was derelict and devoid of any animals.

But today it boasts seven boreholes, water is pumped for many kilometres to natural pans, there are roads, an electrified perimeter game fence as well as a Zesa power grid to provide electricity to the hunting camp.

Land invasions, which began in 2000 and were spearheaded by former freedom fighters.