Parly concerned over timber plunder

BY VENERANDA LANGA

PARLIAMENT has expressed concern over the mass destruction of forests and timber plantations, where 10 000 hectares of timber are said to have been destroyed between July last year and to date.

“It is disturbing that as from July 2018 to date, 10 000 hectares of timber have been destroyed, with Erin Forests, Nyanga Timbers and Chimanimani Plantations set ablaze, and Leopard Rock plantations being randomly cut off,” Mutare West MP Percy Teedzai Muchimwe (Zanu PF) said in Parliament last Thursday while moving a motion on destruction of the environment.

“Veld source statistics also revealed that between periods 2017 to 2018, a loss of $20 million worth of timber was recorded, meaning that 12% of the plant population was destroyed and from 1998 to date, 12 million plants depleted by almost half to 6,5 million,” she said.

Muchimwe said this had resulted in Zimbabwe being an importer of timber, instead of exporting to resuscitate the ailing economy.  

She said loss of timber meant loss of foreign currency to the country.

Seconding the motion, Buhera South MP Joseph Chinotimba (Zanu PF) said there were some unscrupulous people who deliberately went about burning forests.

“If you go to Matabeleland North, there is no timber like we find in Chimanimani or Nyanga.  We have timber which is called ‘mugaragubu’ from Matabeleland North, and this is the kind of timber that we should invest in as a country.  People are starting veld fires everywhere, even at our farms,” Chinotimba said.

The Zanu PF MP recommended stiffer sentences for people who start veld fires.

 “So, what we are saying is, if you are an MP, whether from the rural areas or farming areas, you should make sure that people do not start fires everywhere.  Some people are cutting down trees so that they treat their tobacco.  We should encourage farmers to go and buy charcoal instead of cutting down trees everywhere to process tobacco,” Chinotimba said.  

Chegutu West MP Dexter Nduna (Zanu PF) said a law should be crafted to deal with wildlife and human conflict.  He said some countries, including Namibia, had scaled up compensation for people whose plantations would have been destroyed through veld fires. 

Zanu PF MP Joyce Makonya said in Manicaland, resettled farmers were causing veld fires as they prepared land for farming.

“Rusitu is a mountainous area and the purpose of those trees is to curb soil erosion, but they are burning forests because they want to plough maize.  Some of them are destroying the forests, looking for mice.  The Environmental Management Agency (Ema) should do something about this issue.  Ema and the police are toothless dogs when it comes to the burning of forests,” Makonya said.