NGO Ifaw faces group action suit seeking redress for victims of botched Malawi elephant relocation

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) faces a group action suit seeking compensation for Zambians and Malawians who have had family members killed and suffered crop and property damage from elephant incursions in the wake of an ill-conceived translocation of 263 of the pachyderms to Malawi’s Kasungu National Park in 2022.

Spearheaded by UK human rights-focused law firm Leigh Day, it is the first time an animal welfare NGO has faced a group action suit, the British equivalent of a class action, which does not face as many procedural hurdles. Leigh Day exclusively provided Daily Maverick and The Guardian with details of the case and its plans to soon file it in court.

As we have reported previously, the landscape around Kasungu has been transformed into one of fear and loathing for some of the world’s poorest people. 

Read more: How a botched elephant translocation in Malawi unleashed a landscape of fear and loathing 

Jumbo nightmare

Small-scale farmers have faced the almost daily terror of elephant attacks since the pachyderms were moved from Liwonde National Park in southern Malawi to Kasungu, despite the glaring fact that there is no fence on the international frontier with Zambia and along much of the Malawian side.

Elphina Joseph, 21, with her infant son, Success. Her husband, Josephi Kampamula, was killed by an elephant on the Malawian side of the Kasungu National Park while she was pregnant with Success. (Photo: Ed Stoddard)

Lazarus Phiri, 52, a Zambian farmer near Kasungu National Park who was attacked by an elephant while he was returning from his fields. The elephant stepped on his right arm and abdomen. He can no longer straighten the arm as a result of his injuries. (Photo: Ed Stoddard)

Billed as the biggest elephant translocation yet undertaken, it has proven to be a jumbo nightmare for the rural poor who live near the park. 

At least 10 people around Kasungu have been killed by elephants since the transfer and an estimated $4.3-million in damage has been inflicted on crops and property by the animals, according to data compiled by Warm Heart, an NGO formed in response to the unfolding disaster. 

Leigh Day has 10 claimants and expects to have many more opt into the group action in the coming months. Warm Heart estimates, based on its on-the-ground assessments from its network of volunteers, that more than 12,000 Zambians and Malawians have suffered losses since the translocation – a total that is rising almost daily. 

The damage wrought by elephants is an additional layer of misery for a region reeling from an El Niño-triggered drought last year which decimated the staple maize crop. 

On 20 December 2024, Leigh Day sent Ifaw a “Letter Before Action,” a legal notice required before formal court proceedings are initiated which lays out the intention to pursue a claim and the grounds for doing so. Ifaw UK, Ifaw Malawi and Ifaw Zambia are the defendants named. 

Zambian farmers Wanjole Phiri, 60, and his wife Bupe Phiri, 59. They built this house in the Lumezi District of Zambia with their own hands in 2010, but abandoned it in April 2024 for fear of elephant attack. (Photo: Ed Stoddard)

Grace Phiri, a Zambian farmer, separates ground nuts from their vines. She would typically do this in the field, but through fear of elephant attack, has transported the harvest by oxcart to her yard, a much more costly process. (Photo: Ed Stoddard)

Ifaw has responded, but Leigh Day says it has not yet provided a full reply. For legal reasons, Leigh Day has not disclosed Ifaw’s response.

To date, Ifaw has not admitted to any wrongdoing regarding the translocation and has said it will not respond to any media queries on the matter – a highly unusual stance for an animal-focused NGO not known for being press-shy.

It should also be noted that the last time we sought comment from Ifaw – after we were alerted in October last year to the killing of five elephants on the Zambian side of the park – the NGO broke standard protocol and rushed out a statement on its website instead of responding directly to our queries.

Read more: Five elephants killed in Zambia after vexed translocations, NGO says toll is higher

Embarrassingly, Ifaw subsequently pulled the statement after Malawi Parks said it had been misrepresented – an incident which raises serious questions about the NGO’s credibility. 

Read more: The curious case of five dead elephants and a vanishing media statement 

Ifaw's response 

IFAW sent Daily Maverick this response after this article was published:  "IFAW is deeply saddened by all cases of human-wildlife-conflict in and around Kasungu, where it has been working to support government and communities develop sustainable solutions for reducing human-wildlife conflict and promote coexistence. IFAW rejects any allegation of wrongdoing against it in this regard.  Its focus remains on delivering its long-term commitment to the people and wildlife of Malawi and Zambia."

Build a fence 

Aside from compensation for the people who have incurred damage from the elephants – which can freely move in and out of the park – Leigh Day is also seeking “injunctive relief” to compel Ifaw to halt the attacks by building a fence. 

Zambian farmers display the body of a goat that was snatched by a hyena. Men from the village pursued the hyena into Kasungu National Park and retrieved it. (Photo: Ed Stoddard)

The impending group action suit alleges, among other matters, that Ifaw was negligent in transferring the elephants before a proper boundary fence had been erected and that it had trampled on the constitutional rights of Malawians and Zambians, including the right to life and freedom of movement, through its carelessness. 

It says the organisation failed in its statutory duties by not carrying out environmental impact assessments or conducting meaningful consultations with the affected communities.

Many of these allegations, including the lack of consultation, were corroborated by this correspondent when he was in the region reporting on this story in June of last year.

Johannesburg-based NGO African Parks was also involved in the translocation, but subsequently disassociated itself from the project. 

The next steps will involve the filing of the case in the High Court of England and Wales. Leigh Day says it expects to launch these proceedings in the next few weeks. 

Mammoth stakes are involved: an animal welfare NGO which relies heavily on donor funding from the Global North stands accused of irresponsibly moving dangerous megafauna to a park in the Global South without making provisions to ensure the safety and wellbeing of nearby communities. 

The saga throws an unflattering spotlight on the priorities of animal welfare and rights NGOs in Africa, fuelling perceptions that such organisations and their sponsors value animal life over human life on the world’s poorest continent. 

The elephants have also fared poorly, a point that undermines the animal welfare premise that supposedly drove the initiative. Warm Heart estimates that as many as 80 of the pachyderms have been shot or poisoned by people defending their crops, kith and kin, or have died from starvation and trauma.

Daily Maverick is aware that the groundwork is being laid for possible legal proceedings against Ifaw in other jurisdictions, including the US. Leigh Day’s suit may just be the first wave in a legal tsunami against Ifaw.

How well placed is Ifaw to cough up if the Leigh Day and other potential court cases hold the NGO liable for damages incurred by the elephants it translocated?

According to Ifaw’s latest financial statements for the financial year 2023/24, the NGO’s assets totalled almost $105-million, down from $114-million the previous year.

Of its total assets in 2024, $17.6-million was in cash and equivalents compared with $22.2-million in 2023.

Its total revenue had fallen to $98-million in 2024 from $121.4-million in 2023 – a material decline of almost 20%, which suggests the generosity of its donors is fading.  

The looming legal drama is sure to raise alarm bells among Ifaw’s donors, who would probably rather not see their charitable contributions tainted by such allegations. 

The outcome of the Leigh Day action and others may help to ensure that future translocations involving big fauna are undertaken in such a way that the welfare of poor rural communities is taken into consideration. An unprecedented case against an animal welfare NGO may set some arresting and meaningful precedents. DM

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