Upholding standards, building partnerships: The future of hunting in South Africa

Reflections on SABHSSA’s 2026 Best Practice Workshop

On 7 August 2026, at SANParks Head Office in Muckleneuk, something important happened in South Africa’s wildlife and hunting sector. It was not loud. It was not flashy. It was a day of listening, questioning, and sitting together around the same table to reimagine the future of hunting in South Africa.

Key takeaways

The future of hunting in South Africa depends on two things held together: professional standards that are never lowered, and wider access for new entrants who meet them. That was the working conclusion of the second SABHSSA Best Practice Workshop, hosted with Stellenbosch University’s African Wildlife Economy Institute at SANParks Head Office on 7 August 2026.

• Legal compliance is the baseline: NEMBA and CITES obligations, provincial permitting and professional conduct sit at the centre of any credible hunting career.
• Transformation without competence is risk, not progress. New entrants need training, mentorship and clear rules, not lowered bars.
• No single association can carry the sector. Outfitters, professional hunters, training institutions, communities and the state are interdependent.
• Community enterprises such as KwaMaluaza CPA and Inyama Yethu demonstrate responsible resource use as a livelihood, not merely a regulatory requirement.
• A skills-based, broadly owned wildlife economy is built through shared training pathways, honest commercial relationships and consistent enforcement.

What the 2026 Best Practice Workshop set out to do

The South African Black Hunters & Sport Shooting Association (SABHSSA), in partnership with Stellenbosch University’s African Wildlife Economy Institute (AWEI), hosted the second Best Practice Workshop under the theme “Upholding standards, securing the future, using resources responsibly.” The room brought together government officials, established industry bodies, community practitioners, professional hunters, emerging operators, and researchers. That mix itself was the point.

SABHSSA is still a young organisation. It was founded by people who love the bush and believe that ethical hunting, sport shooting, and responsible wildlife use should be open to more South Africans who are willing to meet the standards. The workshop was not a celebration of arrival. It was a working session on how the sector grows without lowering the bar.

Standards first: Compliance, permitting, and professional ethics

The day opened with remarks from SABHSSA leadership – current acting CEO Mr Gabriel Hlabangane, and a guest address by Mr Matibe of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. The programme director for this year’s event was Ms Kgalalelo Motaung (SABHSSA Secretary). From the first session it was clear that standards are not optional extras. Legal compliance, NEMBA and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) requirements, provincial permitting, and professional conduct sit at the centre of any credible future. Officials from Limpopo’s Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (LEDET) (Mr M Mashala), Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) (Ms Nomcebo Kunune), DEDEAT (Mr Buntu Mzamo) and DFFE (Mr Fhumulani Tshamano) walked participants through the practical realities of the law. Mrs Zeriah Wessels of the Limpopo Wildlife Educators College then spoke to professional behaviour, industry standards and ethics, the unglamorous work that separates a serious professional from someone who merely owns a rifle.

Those sessions mattered because growth without competence is not transformation. It is risk. A new generation of hunting professionals, many of them from communities that historically had little formal access to the industry, cannot be set up to fail. They need clear rules, proper training, and mentors who insist on excellence. That is how a middle-class, skills-based wildlife economy takes root: not through slogans, but through people who can operate legally, ethically and commercially.

The afternoon panels went to the heart of the day’s work.

Transformation in the wildlife and hunting sector

One panel, facilitated by Frans, examined transformation in the wildlife and hunting sector. Around the table sat SABHSSA Chairperson Phumelele Kwayimani, DFFE officials, Dr Thabang Teffo of the Southern African Wildlife College, Lizanne Nel of SA Hunters (SAHGCA), Ms Thembisile Zimu of DFFE, and Dr Paul Mpye from SANParks. The conversation was not about replacing anyone. It was about widening the circle of people who meet the same professional tests: competence in the field, respect for the animal, respect for the land, and respect for the client and the community. Transformation that ignores standards collapses. Standards that ignore new entrants become a closed shop. Both fail the resource.

Partnerships: Why no association succeeds alone

The second panel, facilitated by Dr Ndlovu, focused on partnerships, collaboration and business relationship management. Richard York of WRSA, Stephen Palos of Confederation of Hunting Associations of South Africa (CHASA), Gabriel Hlabangane of SABHSSA, representatives of SCI – Mr Dries Van Coller, and Custodians – Ms Nonkululeko Kunene, and others spoke frankly about how organisations actually work together or fail to. The wildlife economy is too interconnected for any single association to succeed alone. Outfitters need professional hunters. Professional hunters need training institutions. Communities need legal, fair markets. Government needs partners who can implement policy on the ground. Isolated effort produces fragmented results.

That is the lesson we keep returning to. SABHSSA does not grow by standing apart from WRSA, CHASA, SAHGCA, PHASA, SCI, SAWC or the state. It grows by sitting in the same rooms, arguing productively, and then doing the work together. Established organisations bring institutional memory, systems and markets. Newer organisations bring energy, new members, and a determination to make the sector look more like the country it serves. Both are needed.

Community voices: Responsible resource use as a livelihood

The final session grounded the discussion in stories. Community presenters from KwaMaluaza CPA, Inyama Yethu, traditional healers, and service providers spoke about responsible resource use as something lived, not only regulated. These are not abstract case studies. They are people trying to turn wildlife into livelihoods without destroying the asset. Listening to them reminded us why policy and professional standards exist: so that use remains possible for the next generation.

What the future of hunting in South Africa depends on

A month later, the workshop still sits with us for a simple reason. It showed that the sector can talk across old lines without pretending those lines never existed. The growth we want – more skilled hunting professionals, more viable community enterprises, a broader middle-class stake in conservation – will not come from one organisation’s membership list. It will come from shared training pathways, honest commercial relationships, consistent enforcement, and a culture that treats ethics as non-negotiable.

SABHSSA’s task is to keep producing members who can stand in any professional setting and not look out of place. AWEI’s task, and that of the university partnership, is to keep linking practice to evidence and policy. Government’s task is to make the rules clear and apply them evenly. Established associations’ task is to keep the door open to those who meet the standard.

None of this is sentimental. Responsible hunting and sport shooting depend on public trust, legal certainty and economic viability. Those things are easier to protect when the people around the table represent the full range of South Africans who care about wildlife and are prepared to do the hard work.

The 2026 Best Practice Workshop did not solve the sector’s challenges. It did something more useful. It practised the habit of working together. That habit, repeated, is how organisations grow and how a profession stays worthy of the resource it depends on.

The future of hunting in South Africa will be secured by people who uphold standards and invite others to meet them. That is the work. We intend to keep doing it, together.

For more about the event, visit the event page.

Frequently asked questions

What is the SABHSSA Best Practice Workshop?

It is an annual working session convened by the South African Black Hunters & Sport Shooting Association. The 2026 edition, the second, was held on 7 August 2026 at SANParks Head Office in Muckleneuk under the theme “Upholding standards, securing the future, using resources responsibly.”

Who hosted the 2026 workshop and who took part?

SABHSSA hosted it in partnership with Stellenbosch University’s African Wildlife Economy Institute (AWEI). Participants included DFFE, LEDET, MTPA, and DEDEAT officials; industry bodies such as WRSA, CHASA, SAHGCA, PHASA, and SCI; training institutions; community enterprises; and professional hunters and researchers.

What standards must hunting professionals in South Africa meet?

Legal compliance under NEMBA and CITES, provincial permitting requirements, and recognised standards of professional conduct and ethics. Sessions led by provincial and national officials, and by the Limpopo Wildlife Educators College, set out how those obligations apply in day-to-day practice.

How can the sector transform without lowering standards?

By widening access while holding the same professional tests: competence in the field, respect for the animal and the land, and respect for the client and the community. Growth without competence creates risk; standards without new entrants create a closed shop.

What does the future of hunting in South Africa depend on?

Shared training pathways, honest commercial relationships between established and emerging operators, consistent enforcement of the rules, and a culture that treats ethics as non-negotiable. Public trust, legal certainty and economic viability follow from those four things.

About the authors

Frans Malebane is Executive Consultant at the South African Black Hunters & Sport Shooting Association.