Veld fires claim 2, destroy 1m hectares
Walter Mswazie Masvingo Correspondent
Two people were killed while close to one million hectares of land were destroyed by veld fires across the country in 2019, an official has said.
Environmental Management Agency (EMA) communications officer Ms Joyce Chapungu said during a media tour of Driefontein Wetlands in Gutu North last week that a lot of land was burnt by veld fires last season.
“There was a decrease in the number of deaths as we recorded three deaths in 2018,” she said.
“These statistics were seen at the end of the fire season in October last year.”
Ms Chapungu said the most fires were in Mashonaland and Manicaland.
“I do not have the statistics for each province with me, but I can tell you that Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West and Mashonaland Central had the highest hectarage destroyed,” she said.
Ms Chapungu was speaking ahead of this year’s World Wetlands Day Commemorations that was held at Njovo Primary School in Masvingo District on Friday last week under the theme, “Wetlands and Biodiversity”.