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‘Shooting to kill’: 2 poachers shot dead in Zambezi Valley gun battle

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BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI 

Two suspected poachers were killed by Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) rangers at the weekend following a gun battle on the Zambezi Valley.

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Tinashe Farawo, the Zimparks spokesperson, the poachers were killed in the Rifa area of Chirundu.

“Over the weekend there was an armed contact with suspected poachers in Chirundu where two suspects were shot dead,” Farawo said.

“The rangers managed to recover a rifle, a freshly poached ivory and investigations are in progress.”

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He did not provide further details on the incident, but warned that Zimparks rangers would shoot to kill if they encountered armed poachers in wildlife protected areas.

“We are warning the poachers that national parks are no go areas for criminal activities,” he said.

“If you are found in a protected area, armed, there is no way that we are going to apprehend you.

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“You will be shot on site

“We have a shot to kill policy, so national parks are no go areas for criminal activities.”

Elephants are being poached at an alarming rate in Zimbabwe

Poaching of animals such as elephants and rhinos for their ivory continues to be on the rise in Zimbabwe’s game reserves.

The government says it is finding it increasingly difficult to fund conservation activities that include anti-poaching operations due to lack of funds and is strongly pushing for the resumption of the global ban on the sale of ivory.

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Zimbabwe last week held an African conference at the Hwange National Park to lobby for support to end the ban, saying it wants to be allowed to sell $600 million worth of ivory stockpiles.

Zimparks director general Fulton Mangwanya told VicFallsLive in an earlier interview that ivory buyers in Asian countries were promoting poaching activities by providing an illegal market for ivory, hence the push to have Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) trade ban lifted.

“So it is not a matter of marketing because they are still on and they are still trading in ivory locally and they are getting all these imports from poachers who are into trafficking because to them, it’s a cultural industry that can never be closed,” Mangwanya said.

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“It’s not a secret that the market is still there and we are only being blocked by CITES.”

Zimbabwe has the second biggest population of elephants in Africa after Botswana.

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Zimbabwe turn towards black market as inflation rises

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Zimbabweans are feeling the wrath of high inflation. The rate of inflation in the southern African country now stands at 131.7 percent in the month of May.

Locals are now helpless as they are now forced to search for cheaper products as a way to survive the overpriced goods at major supermarkets.

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In these shops they call trucks, lie the solution to their demise as they can buy cheaper products compared top large supermarkets.

“We buy at the truck shop because they are cheap, their price is not even expensive because there, in the big shops these days, they are expensive. Even their rate is less (than in supermarkets, ed.), at the truck shop they give us the good rates, that’s why we prefer to buy at the truck shop because they are cheap,” a customer said.

Zimbabwe has endure years of fluctuating value of currencies worsened by adoption of US dollar. Many Zimbabweans are now shunning away from major stores that experience frequent fluctuating currency rates when converting to the local Zim Dollar.

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“Its cheaper for customers to buy from out here, for instance for a dollar they can get two drinks, instead of one from a supermarket. It’s also because our exchange rate is better than the official rate,” said one vendor.

The black market is also taking a toll on the local Zim Dollar with economists warning of a further deterioration of the local currency if not regulated.

“What we have witnessed over the past weeks is a massive increase in pricing, Zim dollar pricing. This has largely been caused by the very significant depreciation of the local currency that we have seen on the black market or on the parallel market,” said Prosper Chitambara, an economist.

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Zimbabwe’s economy is inching toward “full dollarization,” with the local currency facing collapse, local investment firm Inter-Horizon Securities said. It slumped by 34% in April alone-Source: Africa News.

 

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Zimbabwe releases more than 4 000 prisoners in presidential amnesty

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HARARE – About a fifth of all prisoners in Zimbabwe were released on Thursday under a presidential amnesty a few months ahead of crunch general elections.

A total of 4270 inmates were let out, according to the country’s correctional service, which described the reprieve as a “noble gesture” by the president.

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“We would like to appeal to… society at large to embrace and accept the inmates who have been released,” Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS) said in a statement.

“Those aggrieved are encouraged to forgive them”.

The move brings down overcrowding in the country’s more than 50 detention centres, which have capacity for about 17 000 people but held more than 22 000 before the amnesty.

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Yet, ZPCS spokesperson Meya Khanyezi told AFP “it was not about decongestion”.

“This was just a noble gesture by the president,” she said.

The amnesty was granted to various categories of prisoners including those who have served at least three-quarters of their sentence, or one tenth if over the age of 60.

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Violent criminals as well as those serving time for robbery, treason and public order and security offences were excluded.

Those released will be able to vote in presidential and legislative elections that are to be held in August, although no date has been announced yet.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is struggling to ease entrenched poverty, end chronic power cuts and rein in inflation.

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He granted a similar amnesty at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 in a bid to curtail the spread of the virus in detention facilities.- AFP

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Free elections key to Zimbabwe’s debt settlement, says AfDB

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 HARARE – Zimabwe’s upcoming presidential election and compensation of white farmers whose land was seized two decades ago are key to efforts to restructure its crippling debt, the African development bank chief said Monday.

African Development Bank (AfDB) president Akinwumi Adesina and Mozambique’s ex-president Joaquim Chissano, are leading efforts to help Zimbabwe re-engage with the West to clear its US$8.3 billion bilateral and multilateral debt.

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“The success of the efforts we have all put into this process will depend on what happens with the upcoming presidential elections,” Adesina said at debt resolution talks with President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare.

He said the international community will be “watching very closely” the vote.

“The full weight of re-engagement with the international community will depend on this… (and) the entire electoral process that guarantees a credible election”.

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“Success on the political and electoral reforms, and a free and fair election, are crucial to clear the pathway towards arrears clearance and debt resolution for Zimbabwe,” he added.

Rights groups and opposition parties have complained of a clampdown ahead of elections, whose date is yet to be set.

Chissano, a respected statesman said holding “free and fair elections” and settling the issue of compensation for white former commercial farmers were among “low-hanging fruits” in advancing dialogue with the West and international financial institutions.

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“Harvesting these low-hanging fruits is critical as they are likely to trigger decisive action towards arrears clearance and debt resolution,” he said.

Chissano and Adesina last week met members of the US Congress, State Department, Treasury among other agencies to discuss Zimbabwe.

Adesina revealed that the AfDB is working with Zimbabwe to develop “innovative financial instruments and structures that can be used to front-load the mobiliSation of the US$3.5 billion for compensations”, without getting into further debt.

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“It is important that we find a mechanism to try to fast-track…the payment of these compensations”.

Zimbabwe’s late ex-president Robert Mugabe launched land reforms in 2000, grabbing white-owned farms to reverse a historical land ownership imbalance that favoured the white minority population.

More than 4,000 of Zimbabwe’s 4,500 white commercial farmers were evicted from their properties, which were given to black tenants.

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But in 2020 Mnangagwa, who succeeded Mugabe following a military-led coup, signed a US$3.5 billion deal with dispossessed farmers to compensate them for infrastructure developments on their former land. – Eyewitness News 

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