By Staff reporter
A grueling five hour journey in the dusty and dilapidated road over a distance of 100 kilometers from Mushumbi Pools in the midst of wild animal infested terrain leads one to Kanyemba Ward1 under Chief Chapoto in Mbire District where human wildlife conflict (HWC) has reached crescendo levels with tensions rising between the local community and Ministry of Environment and Tourism, the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and all ‘appropriate authorities’ (AAs) for land and water, including the environment committees of the Rural District Councils (RDCs) who are the legal custodians of the wild animals.
HWC is a situation where animals pose a direct and recurring threat to the livelihood or safety of people leading to the persecution of the species.
Tempers flared once again when a seventy-year-old Kanyemba man, Kossam Kaitano was trampled down and killed by an elephant in Chapoto on the 17th of September 2024 while guarding vegetable gardens from wild animals. Market gardening is the source of income for most people in the area, who mainly sell the produce to customers across the border in Mozambique.
Local residents were agitated that the rights of animals are being prioritized over those of human beings and accused the Parks and Wildlife Authority and the Mbire Rural District Council of acting promptly when an animal is killed and less efficiently when human beings are killed by animals.
It took more than ten hours for the responsible authorities to attend to the deceased and, as they arrived, angry residents dumbed the body of the deceased into the truck of the Parks and Wildlife Authority in anger. Residents also refused to consume the meat of the elephant that the Parks and Wildlife Authority had killed, claiming that it was responsible for killing Kaitano. Considering it a peace offering directed at pacifying them, they burnt it instead.
This development is a just but one sign of the simmering and escalating human and wildlife conflict made worse by the impact of climate change and the current El Nino induced drought currently bedeviling the Southern African region. The government of Zimbabwe is planning to cull 200 elephants in response to the ongoing drought that has resulted in ongoing severe food shortages. But with government perpetually planning, HWC is wreaking havoc.
Edmore Mwanza, a resident of the Kanyemba community lamented the state of HWC, which, he said, has taken a huge toll on most families.
“It is sad that a human being’s life is taken by a wild animal in this day and age. My father died the same way and today we have been robbed of another breadwinner”, Mwanza said in reference to Kaitano’s tragic death.
“I want to know what is going to happen to his family? Will they be compensated? No, there is nothing that is going to come their way”, Mwanza added, lamenting how Zimbabwe has no policy or legal provision that ensures compensation for HWC victims. Perhaps some of the proceeds from the national parks can be used to compensate the victim”, Mwanza suggested.
Mwanza bemoaned how authorities tend to stall and be slow in reacting to reports of stray wild animal sightings.
Another member of the Kanyemba community, Lydia Kapingu echoed Mwanza’s sentiments saying the Parks and Wildlife Authority officials do not respond on time to reports of stray animals leading to loss of life. Turning to Kaitano’s death, Kapingu said: “As a woman, I feel devastated and I cannot imagine how the family will survive without their father in this challenging situation.”
The soaring number of people killed and maimed in HWC makes louder the calls for those affected by HWC to be compensated. Elephants, crocodiles and hippopotamus are the main cause of HWC related deaths that are on the increase. In 2015, 27 people were killed and 15 injured in the first quarter while 12 of the endangered African elephants, 5 lions and 14 hippopotamuses were killed in retaliatory killings.
According to a study by the Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers association (ZELA), HWC related deaths leaped by 300 percent from 619 to 1598 from 2016 to 2021. In 2022 and 2020 , 60 people were killed by wild animals respectively. In 2021, HWC accounted for 72 deaths. In 2023, 50 were killed and by the first quarter of that year 35 had been killed and 80 were injured. According to Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Services Director, Professor Edson Gandiwa, who w, “fifty people were killed in human wildlife conflict in 2023 by elephants, crocodiles and other animals. This year alone 45 people have been killed and 40 have been injured.
The above figures may not reflect the real situation on the ground as some cases go unreported, with the majority of reports coming from areas around Hwange and Gonarezhou National Parks. Zimbabwe’s HWC situation is dire as was noted by Wild Africa Chief Executive, Peter Knights and the Co-odinator, Guy Jennings who added that Zimbabwe has “probably the biggest problems in HWC” as human beings and animals fight for the same food resources including the destruction of the animal habitats by the clearing of land for agricultural and human settlement.
The increase in the figures of people killed and maimed has resulted in the call for compensation to victims, survivors and the affected families for the loss of livestock, incomes and lives. Yet, being heavily skewed in the protection of animals at the expense of human welfare, the Parks and Wildlife Act of 1975 does not provide for such compensation.
Although The Parks and Wildlife Act provides for the killing of wildlife without a permit only in self-defense or in defense of another person, this can only be done in circumstances of immediate and absolute necessity and one has to prove the necessity beyond reasonable doubt in addition to reporting the incident in person within seven days of the occurrence.
Additionally, the Act does not recognize the killing of wildlife in defense of property as a valid defense.
The Act gives authorities too much power, leaving communities stranded in terms of possible and immediate actions to take when animals cause extensive damage and threaten life. In such incidents in which life and property are threatened, affected communities cannot do anything but report and wait for the authorities to act. Action by the authorities is sometimes late as in the case of the incident that led to the death of Kaitano.
In the interest of saving lives there is need for legislators, civil society groups and communities in affected areas to engage in appropriate lobby and advocacy actions, which ensure that the amendment of the Parks and Wildlife Act currently under consideration in Parliament provides for the compensation of people affected by HWC.
