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Stray elephants wreak havoc in Victoria Falls

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BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

Victoria Falls residents are enduring a torrid time fending off stray elephants that destroy their backyard gardens and charge at people on the streets.

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Some city residents from Mkhosana and Chinotimba high density suburbs told VicFallsLive that they were spending sleepless nights trying to protect their property from the giant world animals.

The residents said the elephants destroy security walls to enter their homes in search of vegetables grown in backyard gardens.

Bernard Phiri, a Chinotimba resident, said one of the problem elephants was first spotted roaming around Chinotimba Primary School.

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“On two consecutive days, it passed through that street just in the evening and people had to ward it off by clapping their hands, screaming and some beating containers,” Banda said.

“We are worried that if this problem is not solved, a life will be lost,

“My neighbour had his vegetables destroyed from his garden and he had to pluck off the stems to start afresh.”

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Caroline Ncube, a Mkhosana resident, said they were being forced to be innovative to keep the elephants at bay.

“They disturb our lives because we are now forced to guard our vegetable gardens all night,” Ncube said.

“I rub elephant dung on the plants in the garden and l also spread the same dung around the vegetable plants to chase them away.

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“However, this does not stop the elephants from destroying our vegetables as they just destroy them if they realise there is elephant dung.”

Kelvin Moyo, Combined Victoria Falls Resident Association chairperson, said they had engaged the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) to address the issue of problem elephants.

Moyo said Zimparks officials informed them that one of the elephants had been shot dead around the Inyati area on Monday.

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It was not immediately clear whether it was the same elephant that has been terrorising residents from around the Mkhosana, Chinotimba and Aerodrome as well as in some low-density areas.

Residents said another elephant was spotted near Victoria Falls Primary School along Kazungula Road on the same day.

Moyo said although they appreciated that wild animals would encroach into the city regularly because it was surrounded by the Zambezi National Park, they still expected Zimparks to keep residents safe.

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“We still want to make it clear that human life is important compared to animal life and the human-wildlife conflict should be minimized by Zimparks quickly responding to distress calls from residents,” he said.

“We wouldn’t want them to react after we have had an incident that perhaps may have led to a loss of life.”

Zimparks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo blamed the influx of stray elephants in the city to overpopulation in Zimbabwe’s game reserves.

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“We commend what Victoria Falls residents are doing to raise issues about problem animals because just on Saturday in Gokwe, an elephant trampled to death two people while two others are battling for their lives in hospital, and again in Mbire, a village head was also trampled to death by the same mammal in full view of his wife,” Farawo said.

“So, this is a problem that we are struggling to contain.

“We need those people from America and the United Kingdom to understand that our parks are overpopulated yet our country is not enlarging and that’s why we are in this current dilemma almost in every district.”

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Farawo said Zimparks will continue killing elephants that threaten people’s lives.

“As Zimparks, we stand firm on our decision to kill those animals endangering human lives and our advice is to have our people report such problem animals and we will react swiftly, “he said.

The number of people killed by elephants in Zimbabwe continues to increase as the jumbos move away from their game range into human territory.

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In 2020 wild animals, most of them elephants, killed more than 60 people in Zimbabwe while others sustained permanent injuries following attacks by animals.

Zimbabwe early this year said it was considering culling elephants to reduce their population of 100 000, which it says has become unsustainable.

The country last embarked on the mass culling of elephants in 1988.

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Zimbabwe has the second biggest elephant population in Africa after its neighbour Botswana.

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In the community

Zambia Limits Worship Time To Two Hours To Curb Cholera

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BY AFRICANEWS

Churches across Zambia have received a mandate to restrict worship sessions to a maximum of two hours.

The directive, issued by Ndiwa Mutelo, a high-ranking official overseeing religious affairs, also prohibits the sale of perishable and ready-to-eat foods within church premises.

To further minimize the risk of disease transmission, worshippers are strongly advised to refrain from handshakes and hugs. In an official statement, Mr. Mutelo emphasized the importance of maintaining hygiene within worship centers.

Churches are now required to provide safe drinking water, designated hand washing points, and make available alcohol-based hand sanitizers to their congregants.

 

The urgency of these measures is underscored by the significant cholera outbreak in Zambia, with more than 7,800 reported cases since last October. Over the past 24 hours alone, the health ministry has recorded over 400 new cases and 18 fatalities.

This latest intervention aims to mitigate the impact of the cholera epidemic, emphasizing the collective responsibility of religious institutions in safeguarding public health.

SOURCE: AFRICANEWS

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Lubangwe villagers walk over 30KM to access nearest clinic

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BY LWANDLE MTHUNZI

Access to primary healthcare remains a major challenge to communities in Lubangwe resettlement area in Hwange where the nearest clinic is more than 30km away for some.

Lubangwe Railway Farm 55 resettlement was established in 2000 during the country’s land reform when scores of villagers, mostly families of war veterans, were settled in the area.

Government did not construct schools and clinics and old farm buildings were converted into learning facilities.

While some schools are now available as a result, although far away from some villages, the communities remain with no health facility which makes access to health a major challenge.

The worst affected are pregnant women and people living with chronic diseases such as HIV and TB who have to regularly get their monthly allocation of life saving tablets.

Edwin Nyoni, head of village 1 said had it not been for village health workers mortality could be high for people with chronic illnesses.

“We don’t have a clinic and people walk 25km to 30km to Ndlovu clinic because most have no money for transport. We risk our lives through the wildlife infested bush to Ndlovu hence we appeal to the government to help us establish a clinic nearby. We have village health workers who assist to reduce mortality and prevent home deliveries by making sure pregnant women and the chronically ill are assisted to go to hospital,” he said.

In village 2 villagers are patiently waiting for the opening of a clinic after a building was identified for use as a health facility.

The structure has no electricity and water, said village head Joseph Munsaka.

“They promised to bring some nurses to use a building that is lying idle. They said they want to connect water and electricity and we hope this will happen soon to save lives,” he said.

Gilbert Munkuli said sometimes health authorities visit with a mobile clinic at the nearby Nyongolo primary school.

He said some of his villagers walk more than 30km because they have no money for transport making access to health difficult.

“It is more than 30km to go to Ndlovu Clinic and health workers sometimes come to Nyongolo Primary School to give tablets especially to the chronically ill. Those with money sometimes hire cars but some die at home or fail to go to hospital which worsens the burden of diseases such as TB,” he said.

Because of proximity to Hwange coal mining town where most people in Hwange worked at the Hwange Colliery Company, the burden of TB is high around the district as many families have lived in Hwange town at some stage before retiring to the rural areas.

Nesi Mpala of village 2 appealed to the government to open a clinic to save chronically ill community members.

“The clinic is far and people who seek medical attention suffer, with pregnant women and those with chronic diseases the worst affected. People living with HIV and Aids are better because health workers come to give them tablets but those with TB have to go to the clinic and struggle to travel because transport is expensive. We wish the government can give us a mobile clinic so that TB patients and pregnant women get help,” said Mpala.

Government is working on a national health policy whose vision is to ensure primary health care is accessible to all communities although the plan has been in the pipeline for many years.

Health is a critical human right and key to attainment of Sustainable Development Goals.

 

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VFWT partners with Mvuthu villagers to tackle human-wildlife conflicts

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BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

The Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust (VFWT) has announced that they have secured funding to work with the communities of the new scheme of herding cattle, amid growing concerns of human-wildlife conflicts in the Mvuthu’s jurisdiction.

This was announced by the VFWT Community Liaison officer Bongani Dlodlo on Tuesday at a village assembly meeting in the Mvuthu area.

He said the scheme aims to reduce the continuous attack of the domestic animals, mainly the cattle by predators such as the lions.

 

The organisation will actively involved in various environmental issues in the area, including the introduction of mobile bomas years ago, making of chill dung to deter elephants among other rehabilitation projects.

“This will be a programme to run for three years, where we are going to create mobile kraals where the whole village, those who are willing will bring their cattle there and we will hire some willing community members above 22 years of age to look after them during the day and night,” Dlodlo said.

“We are trying to reduce the problem of your livestock getting killed and while under this scheme, we shall ensure that they get treated whenever they present some symptoms of not being well and we will also vaccinate and feed them so that they can increase the value in the market whenever you want to dispose of some of them.”

Dlodlo also added that this will be done throughout the year.

“During the off-cropping season, we will be rotating them from one field to the other so that we also mitigate the issue of poor soils this community is faced with. By this, we hope that even your yield will improve for these coming years.”

Although some at the meeting met with skepticism, Dlodlo insisted that the villagers were not under duress to let go of their cattle and that the preparatory planning and strategies to be adopted were going to be done together with the communities.

Fears were around the issue of religious beliefs around the rearing of livestock.

Other concerns were around the issue of having to walk long distances to milk cows and even having them to perform some day to day chores such as the fetching of firewood.

According to the Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers, cases of human-wildlife conflicts have been increasing since 2016 by over 216 percent and Mvuthu villagers have often paid the price without compensation.

Others also queried about what will happen if their livestock gets attacked while with the hired herders and Dlodlo responded: “We will not be paying for any compensation because ours to try and help this community, but because the herders and the place of herding will be chosen by you, we hope that this will be a holistic community project where you can always check on what is happening as we work together.”

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