Elephants dash hopes of good harvest in Mat North

Chronicle Reporter
March 18, 2010



ELEPHANTS have dashed hopes of any meaningful harvests in Matabeleland North Province amid reports that a woman was trampled to death while guarding her fields, officials have said.
Villagers in most areas of the province were spending sleepless nights as elephants were causing havoc in their fields.
Villagers have resorted to making fires near their fields in a bid to keep away the elephants.
In an interview on Monday, during the official opening of the Hwange High Court Circuit, Matabeleland North Provincial Governor and Resident Minister Sithokozile Mathuthu said elephants had turned out to be a big challenge in the province.
“The only solution to this problem is for the responsible authorities to kill the elephants, give the villagers meat or sell it to crocodile breeders and sell the trophies so that villagers can be compensated for the damage to their crops,” said Governor Mathuthu.
“The province received good rains and people got inputs on time and there were hopes that they would get meaningful harvests, but all their efforts have been dashed by these animals.”
Chief Jonah Neluswe Shana, whose area covers the Jambezi area, confirmed that a woman living in a resettlement area under his jurisdiction was last month trampled to death by elephants at night.
He said the woman and two others were guarding the fields at night and at around 11 pm a herd of elephants invaded the fields.
"The women fled, but this one was wearing white clothes and the elephants managed to pick on her and she was trampled to death," said Chief Shana.
The traditional leader said villagers in his area and other parts of the district would not harvest anything as the elephants had destroyed entire fields.
"People are now complaining why they were given inputs and about 120 fields were destroyed last week. People are now coming to me to ask for a solution, but I do not have answers," said Chief Shana.
"We do not want to rely on donors hence people had put a lot of effort in their fields, but unfortunately they will not harvest anything."
The chief said the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and those that run the Campfire programme appeared to be protecting the animals at the expense of people.
"The ideal situation would be to deploy game rangers under each chief in the district during the farming season so that they can help drive away the elephants.
"The council should employ more game rangers because as things stand now when you go to seek assistance you are told that the game rangers have gone to another area," said Chief Shana.
He said the Hwange Rural District Council did not show any concern over the villagers' losses, as they had not gone out to check on the number of people who had their crops destroyed so that they could work out how to compensate them.
"It is worrying to note that every year villagers have their crops destroyed by the elephants, but they never get any compensation.
"Even when the elephants are hunted and killed villagers do not benefit and they have to rely on donor food, which is what we do not want," he said.
The elephants were reportedly also destroying crops in areas such as Lupane with some villagers saying that the elephants were now so daring that they came to the fields during daytime.