Former Minister withdraws from fight over NG13 hunting concession
The high-stakes legal battle over the lucrative NG 13 hunting concession concluded abruptly on Wednesday after the applicant, DK Superior (Pty) Ltd, withdrew the matter from the Maun High Court just hours before it was heard.
The main application was set to return to court today, but the withdrawal by DK Superior, a company owned by former Minister of Justice, Machana Shamukuni, who is also former Member of Parliament for Chobe, signals a likely end to the protracted dispute.
The conflict centered on the NG13 concession, which is managed by the Tcheku Development Trust under the Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) programme. The matter was challenged by Oldman’s Pan (Pty) Ltd.
The core dispute arose after the Trust subleased the concession to DK Superior in November 2024 for the 2025 hunting season, allowing DK to purchase the quota for P1.5 million in July 2025. This action was contested by Oldman’s Pan, which argued an existing Court of Appeal order from August 15, 2025, had placed an interdict on hunting in the area.
The legal fight had already seen a dramatic turn when the court previously set aside an order it had initially granted in favour of DK Superior.
On September 12, 2025, the court had initially granted DK an urgent order to review and set aside a directive from the Director of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) that blocked the issuance of permits, allowing DK to commence hunting.
However, Oldman’s Pan successfully challenged this victory, arguing that DK Superior was an unregistered company, a legal “non-entity” with “no legal standing,” and that the initial order was obtained without serving notice on the directly affected parties.
Following submissions on 31 October 2025, the court sided with Oldman’s Pan and the Trust, setting aside its own September 12 order and joining the challenging parties to the main application.
The withdrawal comes despite the extreme urgency emphasized by Shamukuni in his founding affidavit.
He had warned of “extreme financial loss,” citing the presence of four international clients from the United States already in the NG 13 camp awaiting permits for a quota that included 10 elephants and other specified animal species.
The quota was set to end at the end of October 2025 any way but at the time Shamukuni’s clients were ordered by court to stop hunting as continuation of the act was illegal.
The withdrawal by the applicant effectively concludes the immediate legal challenge over the 2025 hunting season for the NG13 concession with DK having lost the case with costs.
