Save Valley illegal settlers warned

Government has warned over 15 000 illegal settlers in and around the Save Valley Conservancy that they will soon be evicted from the wildlife-rich sanctuary as the new dispensations moves to restore order in the world-acclaimed habitat.

The decision to move the illegal settlers dovetails with the new dispensation’s anti-lawlessness thrust in a bid to reassure investors that the country is open for business.

Addressing guests ahead of the Masvingo Environment and Tourism Indaba held in the Lowveld recently, Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Prisca Mupfumira said Government has lost millions of dollars due to confusion at the conservancy.

She said Government wanted a stop to the human/wildlife conflict at the conservancy, which is now almost clocking two decades.

“We have an ongoing exercise which we are undertaking in partnership with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement which is the removal of illegal settlers mainly in wildlife sanctuaries,” she said.

“Here in Chiredzi we have issues at Save Valley Conservancy and some parts of Gonarezhou National Park. We know the Members of Parliament here are against this move because they would start saying our voters are now being affected by the country, the party (Zanu-PF) and the generality of Zimbabweans have suffered due to this confusion.”

Minister Mupfumira said the country cannot continue ignoring the continued destruction of the environment by illegal occupants of land.

“We have recorded cases of illegal gold panning in the middle of the conservancy, there is rampant cutting down of our trees,” she said. “This has tarnished the image of our country, you can’t expect tourists to visit a conservancy which has been affected by land degradation.

“We want to arrest all those who are fueling this. We want to punish all those who are working against the environment. This disorder must be sorted in no time, we want the conservancy to be fenced so that we address the rising cases of human wildlife conflict.”

Minister Mupfumira said the country was already overwhelmed with the elephant population and this has seen cases of human wildlife conflict rising.

“As a nation we have the capacity to house over 50 000 elephants but currently we have over 85 000 elephants,” she said. “This has created a lot of pressure on the vegetation. Then an illegal settler comes in to compete with the wildlife for the few litres of water and vegetation.

“This has created a lot of fights between humans and wildlife.”

The developments comes after Government hinted on removing illegal settlers who have occupied some properties in Save Valley Conservancy such as Masapasi, Angers and Chegwite and all fall under the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement.