Villagers blast Parks Authority, Campfire

Victoria Falls Reporter
October 19, 2010



CHIEF Mvutu of Jambezi area in Hwange District has lost eight cattle to marauding lions and hyenas.
Other villagers in Chief Mvutu’s area have now lost more than 70 cattle worth thousands of United States dollars to the wild animals.
As a result, the villagers have accused the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (NPWMA) and Communal Areas Management Programme For Indigenous Resources (Campfire) project of failing to take their appeals to drive away the animals seriously.
“To be honest I can safely say that I lost 12 cattle because six were pregnant,” said Chief Mvutu in an interview.
He said since he started knowing about the Campfire project 16 years ago, he had never seen a single villager getting compensated for lost livestock or for lost yields after elephants had destroyed crops.
“During harvest time, we face the perennial problem of elephants destroying our crops in the fields. Then after that lions and hyenas descend on us and eat our livestock.
“For Campfire, I think it is high time they change their name to some organisation that only focuses on protecting wild animals at the expense of villagers because communities are not benefiting anything. This organisation is only benefiting rural district councils,” he said.
“This is very sad. We the poor villagers do not matter to anyone. We are worthless because our problems are not taken seriously.
“However, if we were to take the law into our own hands and kill these animals we will be arrested and we believe that is not fair at all.”
Efforts to get a comment from Hwange RDC chief executive officer Mr Phindile Ncube were futile as he was said to be out.