National

Conservationists help tackle poaching in Hwange

Published

3 years ago

September 16, 2022

BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

Hwange National Park, once a favourite hunting ground for poachers, has not lost an elephant to the illegal hunters for the past two years largely because of partnerships between the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) and non-governmental organisations.

In 2013, over 300 elephants were killed by poachers at the country’s largest game reserve as the menace reached its peak.

Poachers, who included villagers from rural outposts such as Tsholotsho and Hwange used cyanide to kill the elephants for their ivory.

One of the major organisations that have joined hands with Zimparks to protect the animals in Hwange is Bhejani Trust, which also operates at the Zambezi National Park and Kazuma Pan National Park in Matabeleland North.

Bhejane Trust director Trevor Lane said the last elephant poaching incident at the Hwange National Park was in 2020 and he attributed the of the anti-poaching activities to the partnerships between Zimparks and conservation groups.

“Efforts by (Zimparks) and what we do differently to promote conservation in the region has positively impacted on conservation of our wildlife, especially elephants which frequently strayed out of national parks into communal areas to search for food and water,” Lane said.

“As an organisation ours is to ensure that our wildlife has adequate water supply because generally where we operate natural water is drying up fast during the summer and the pressure of elephants all coming together.

“We are faced with a challenge of keeping up with the demand in order for us to keep them inside the parks.

“Every year we have managed to put in a few more water pumps. We are trying to put in more pumps into the back area of Robins Camp because while there’s natural water, there’s a good population of elephants.

“But once that dries up the elephants are all forced to go forward to the existing pumps, which adds to the pressure. Some end up straying outside, leading to human wildlife conflict situations, that’s why we want to add more from the existing 49 to drive them back into the park.”

The organisation pumps one million litres of water per day, which is consumed by approximately 16 000 elephants out of the 44 000 found in the Hwange National Park

Another fruitful partnership for Zimparks is with the international Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), which recently set up a new ranger station in the Makona area of Hwange National Park to strengthen the fight against poachers.

IFAW said the ranger station will also help the communities living near the park, who have suffered from elephants and other large herbivores destroying their crops and predators killing their livestock.

“When complete, the camp will be home to 56 rangers and their families who will live and work there,” IFAW said in a statement.

“Comfortable housing, equipped with electricity and running water, is being built for junior rangers and senior staff, and a recreation centre is under construction.

The operations centre is already in use and set up with a landscape-wide VHF radio network—vital communications equipment that connects rangers and improves responses to incidents of poaching.”

IFAW said before the camp was constructed responses to poaching incidents and reaction to reports on problem animals were slow, with rangers being deployed from Hwange Main Camp, some 95 kilometres away and enduring a terrible road snaking through the sticky Kalahari sands.

Augustine Gomba, Zimparks’ wildlife cfficer based at Hwange Main Camp, said before the road was developed, driving to Makona was a nightmare.

“The sandy soils and the rugged nature of the road meant that on average the trip to Makona would take a grueling four hours at least,” Gomba said.

A key achievement of the IFAW-Zimparks agreement was the improvement of the road, cutting a journey that could take up to four hours down to less than two.

The park is nestled on the edge of the Kalahari Desert and is home to some of Africa’s most iconic species.

Being largely flat and dominated by scattered woodlands of teak trees, it was an easy target for poachers.

“The new ranger station will prevent poachers from entering Hwange National Park into the future, allowing the park’s elephants and other wildlife to continue to flourish,” IFAW said.

Zimparks struggles to fund conservation efforts due to poor funding. – The Standard

National

Another Zimbabwe gold coin sale registers little for most

Published

13 hours ago

August 13, 2025

VicFallsLive

BY GAMUCHIRAI MASIYIWA

With the price of gold up globally, the Reserve Bank of

Zimbabwe in April put the gold coins it stopped minting a year earlier back on the

market.

But interested investors had to act fast.

By mid-June, the sale of coins from its accumulated stock was abruptly concluded

and another chapter of the currency chaos that has characterized the nation’s

economy for decades was in the books. This time, at least, economists say the

experiment had little effect.

The short-lived sale is just the latest example in a long line of inconsistent policies,

says Ithiel Mavesere, a lecturer in the economics and development department at theUniversity of Zimbabwe. Storing value in a gold coin is not a viable option for the

majority of the population, he adds.

“Ideally, what they should have done is come up with low-value coins, with

denominations as low as equivalent to US$20 for the majority of the population to

afford,

” Mavesere says.

However, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor John Mushayavanhu says in a written

response to Global Press Journal that the gold coins were effective as an alternative

investment instrument and there was huge demand from both corporations and

individuals. According to RBZ data, corporations bought about 79% of the gold coins

and individuals bought about 21%.

About US$12 million’s worth sold

The lowest denomination of the coins represents a tenth of an ounce of gold,

equivalent to 9,299.13 in Zimbabwe gold, or ZiG, the national currency, or about

US$347. The highest denomination of the coins represents one ounce of gold,

equivalent to ZiG 92,991.34 or about US$3,470.

In all, the central bank has sold gold coins worth ZiG 343 million, or about US$12.8

million, according to Mushayavanhu, who says the recent sale happened after the

bank noted increased demand following the rise in international gold prices.

“In this context, the Reserve Bank re-issued an accumulated parcel of gold coins from

a combination of gold coins which had been bought back from the market through

redemptions and some coins which were still being held at the Reserve Bank from

the previously minted stock,

” the governor wrote.

A statement from the bank in mid-June announcing the halt to the sale indicated it

had been intended to clear the stock of gold coins it had and those that had been

cashed in by their holders.

Mushayavanhu says the bank stopped minting gold coins in April 2024 to prioritize its

gold reserve which, along with foreign currency reserves, backs the Zimbabwe gold

currency.

He says foreign reserves increased from US$270 million in April 2024 to US$731 million

as of the end of June.

The central bank first introduced the Mosi-oa-Tunya gold coins — which share an

indigenous name for Victoria Falls — in 2022 at a time when the country was

experiencing currency instability with high inflation and continued devaluation of

what was then the national currency, the Zimbabwe dollar.

The coins aimed to reduce dependency on the US dollar and help stabilize the

economy. The coins helped mop up excess cash in local currency that was circulatingin the market. Coupled with other monetary measures in 2022, the monthly inflation

rate dropped from about 31% in June to about 12% in August that year.

However, the exchange rate of the Zimbabwe dollar drastically fell against the US

dollar and the government replaced it with the new Zimbabwe gold currency in April

2024. Since its introduction, the currency’s value has been cut in half.

A ‘drop in the ocean’

Lyle Begbie, an economist with Oxford Economics Africa, believes the sale of the gold

coins when they were introduced in 2022 was more of a revenue-generating scheme,

as it happened at a time when inflation was very high.

He says it makes sense that the recent sale of gold coins was influenced by the

increase in gold prices on the global market. But he adds that the value of gold coins

was too little to have an impact on the economy. Begbie says the US$12.8 million in

coins the central bank reported selling is less than 1% of Zimbabwe’s gross domestic

product — which the World Bank estimates at US$44 billion — a “drop in the ocean”

when it comes to the country’s macroeconomic picture.

Prosper Chitambara, an economist based in Harare, agrees the impact of the recent

sale was minimal. He says gold coins don’t have a significant impact on currency

stability in an economy like Zimbabwe’s, which is highly informal and also highly

dollarized — meaning it’s heavily reliant on the US dollar as a currency.

“Most economic agents in our economy prefer to transact using their US dollars

because it’s a highly tradable and highly liquid asset. … So there’s a huge confidence

and trust in the USD than in the gold coins or even in the Zimbabwe gold,

”

Chitambara says.

Samuel Wadzai, the executive director of Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic

Transformation, an organization in Harare that advocates for the informal business

sector, says there have been a few instances where members have tried to use gold

coins for everyday transactions, but it hasn’t been widespread.

“Most traders still prefer cash due to the challenges of acceptance and the limited

understanding of gold coins in everyday trade,

” he says.

Isheanesu Kwenda, 31, a Harare street vendor with a sociology degree, says the recent

sale of gold coins didn’t offer any benefit for him. Like many Zimbabweans, he has

heard about the gold coins, but has never seen or opted to buy them. The vendor is

part of Zimbabwe’s informal economy, which sustains over 80% of Zimbabwe’s

population and contributes nearly 72% to the country’s GDP.

“Street economics informs that you should not attempt to get something you are not

sure of or do not understand. … I prefer to sell my goods and keep my money in US

dollars because it holds value, or I can keep my money in stock,

” Kwenda says of theclothing he sells.

Last year, Kwenda lost more than half his earnings after Zimbabwe gold was

introduced. After being paid the equivalent of US$1,000 in Zimbabwe dollars, he only

managed to salvage US$360 and lost the rest in exchange rate losses.

For Kwenda, restoring confidence is simple: The government must stick to a plan,

without making sudden U-turns

This story was originally published by Global Press Journal

National

Seven killed, 36 injured in road accidents in Masvingo and Hwange

Published

2 days ago

August 12, 2025

VicFallsLive

BY WANDILE TSHUMA

A tragic weekend on Zimbabwe’s roads has left seven people dead and 36 others injured in two separate accidents in Masvingo and Hwange.

The first accident occurred on Monday, at around 2:00 a.m. along the Mutare-Masvingo Road when a Toyota Quantum vehicle carrying 22 Zion Christian Church congregants veered off the road and overturned, killing six people and injuring 16 others.

In a separate incident, one person was killed, and 20 others were injured in Hwange when a Nissan NP300 vehicle overturned after its left rim broke on Sunday, at around 5:00 a.m.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police has urged motorists to exercise caution on the roads, avoiding speeding and observing all road rules and regulations to prevent such tragic accidents.

The police are currently working to identify the victims, and the names will be released once the next of kin have been notified.

National

United States Embassy temporarily suspends most visa processing In Zimbabwe | Report

Published

6 days ago

August 7, 2025

VicFallsLive

BY NEWZWIRE

The U.S. Embassy in Zimbabwe will temporarily suspend all routine visa services starting Thursday, according to a State Department memo.

The suspension will impact a range of visa categories, including immigrant visas, and nonimmigrant visas for tourism, business, study, and exchange programmes. A senior State Department official said:

The Administration is always working to prevent visa overstay and misuse.

The official cited Zimbabwe’s B1 and B2 visa overstay rate of 10.57%, equivalent to 709 individuals.

Overstay rates among student visa holders are also a concern — particularly as Zimbabwe has not agreed to a so-called “safe third country” or “third country national” arrangement, which would allow asylum seekers to pursue their claims from a country they previously transited through, the official said.

The Trump administration has reportedly exerted pressure on African nations to accept the return of non-national migrants. To date, only Eswatini, Rwanda, and South Sudan have publicly agreed to such an arrangement.

According to the memo, the suspension will not affect visas that are already valid, and certain applications, including official and C-3 diplomatic visas, will continue to be processed.