BUBI – A herd of elephants is terrorising villagers in Matabeleland North’s Bubi district as wild animals stray into human settlements in search of water and food.
The elephants are wreaking havoc Bubi’s ward 19, destroying the community’s water infrastructure and natural vegetation.
The elephants believed to be from the Hwange National Park are suspected to be over 50 in number excluding calves
Villagers who spoke during a Community Advocacy Action Team meeting organised by Habakkuk Trust, said the community were living in fear as some herd boys have been chased by elephants while attending to their livestock.
Getrude Khabo, a village worker in the ward said children from affected villages were absconding lessons because they fear encountering the elephants on their way to school.
“We have since stopped our children from going to school as we fear that they will encounter elephants on the way,” Khabo said.
The villages said the human-wildlife conflict was likely to affect exam children who were writing Grade 7 and ‘O’ level final examinations.
Some pupils in the ward reportedly walk distances of over 10km through dense thickets to access the nearest primary school, which makes them vulnerable to attacks by wild animals.
The presence of elephants has impacted negatively on the socio-economic activities of women in the ward.
Women bemoaned loss of income after they failed to harvest seasonal broom grass because they feared being attacked by the animals.
Women are increasingly finding it difficult to fetch firewood and water as they fear being attacked.
“Elephants are targeting our water points and we are scared of being attacked while fetching water,” said Nelia Moyo, the Habakkuk Trust community advocacy action team convenor for ward 19.
Habakkuk Trust community advocacy action team members said the elephants were invading homesteads where they destroy fences and fruit trees.
Village head Mlozwi said urgent attention was needed to avert deaths.
“I have received reports of boys being chased from grazing areas by marauding elephants and this is worrying.’’
Efforts to ward off the elephants through the use of traditional means such as banging of tins and the use of fire were said to be ineffective.
According to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, 60 people have been killed by elephants since the start of 2022.
Bubi District Council chief executive officer Patson Mlilo said a team of hunters will be dispatched to handle the crisis—Habakkuk Trust