But the scene is quite different in Zibagwe district, where villagers have successfully managed to combat the threat of bush-fires thanks to training by the Environmental Management Agency.
Last year EMA held training courses for villagers after a series of prolonged dry winters during which property worth millions of dollars had been lost to veld fires. Plantations, crops and pastures were destroyed, forcing many people and wild animals to go hungry.
61 deaths
Over a five year period, 61 people died in fires. In one horrific incident, a 13-year-old herd boy was trapped in a veld fire with his cattle at Debshen farm and died trying to escape. That same fire spread into a nearby conservancy reducing 35 elephants and six houses to ashes.
This season has been different in Zibagwe. The district has achieved a record low in the number of major fires, and those that did break out were effectively contained by trained villagers.
Gold panners
Headman Solomon Shumba of Ward 30 Woodrich community, who is the leader of the four groups of fire reaction teams, said the villagers had been taught to prevent fire outbreaks as well as to fight fires. Those who received the training spread the word to others and today everyone in the village is a friend of the environment. “The zeal to protect the environment has been amazing. For example, if a fire incident was to start right now, within a couple of minutes, the area would be thronged by villagers ready to fight the blaze and avert disaster,” said Shumba.
Raphael Gondo, 73, a member of one of the fire-fighting teams, explained that veld fires were largely due to the activities of gold panners – who usually prefer clearing land using fire. Criminals such as cattle rustlers and rapists often do the same in order to easily identify targets. “Fire guards have proved to be particularly useful. They have prevented fires from spreading from one farm or forest area to another. This has been our strength. Team work has also helped especially in alerting each other of the activities of illegal gold panners and other criminals who purposely start fires,” explained Gondo.
While Zibagwe has had a clean record on fire cases, it has not been the same elsewhere.
According to EMA’s provincial planning and monitoring officer, William Berekwa, who is also credited for initiating training of villagers in Zibagwe, almost 100,000 hectares of land have been burned in other areas since July. Only last month, three members of the same family died in Chiodza village, Chirumanzu after they were trapped in a veld fire. The fourth one was severely injured and is still critically ill in Gweru General Hospital. In the Lalapansi district, property worth $11,400 was also lost at one farm after a fire destroyed valuable assets including a tractor and four tonnes of stocked maize.
“We are really grateful and encouraged by the achievement of the people of Zibagwe in preventing and combating fires. They have shown that veld fires can really be stopped in this country. We are planning to honour them with an award and we hope that other districts will follow their example,” Berekwa said.
Poems & plays
Tinei Nyajena, EMA’s Kwekwe District Environment Officer, told The Zimbabwean that the enthusiasm to protect the environment from fire among the villagers had grown to such high levels that some traditional leaders in the area had started composing poems and organising youths to perform plays during public gatherings based on that theme. “There is a sub-chief who is hoping to break into the arts sector with a poem on protecting the environment from veld fires. He has been so passionate about it to an extent where he keeps phoning me to say may I add some information on it from time to time. We hope to avail the poem to the public soon,” said Nyajena.
Ward 30 Councillor Elisha Gwatidzo implored on EMA and other stakeholders to provide more fire-fighting equipment. “At present we only have a few fire beaters and knapsacks, which carry water to put out fires. We need more of those. It would however be good if we can have a set of equipment in every household,” he said.
Post published in: News