Jeffrey Gogo Climate Story
Environment, Water and Climate Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has promised tougher action against continuing cyanide wildlife slaughtering, and wants to see the justice system purified of corrupting elements that protect criminals. In a wide-ranging interview with The Herald Business last week, Mr Kasukuwere also said Government’s countrywide crackdown on corporate polluters had cut water pollution by considerable margins.
A stronger waste management strategy that would, among other things, see councils in major cities collect garbage by night and environmental monitors enforce anti-litter laws by day will soon be implemented.
Any work that aims at stopping or minimising environmental damage requires strong public buy-in.
So, said Mr Kasukuwere, his ministry had lined up a massive educational publicity campaign, whose objective is to embed the environment into people’s conscience.
The Environmental Management Agency will spearhead the advocacy, to be executed through media channels including TV, radio, newspapers and billboards.
“We are going to pursue them (poachers), wherever they are,” Mr Kasukuwere said on November 13 after reports that police in Dete had recently recovered 7kg of the deadly cyanide, but had not captured suspected poaching syndicate kingpins, Busani Moyo and Lucas Nhliziyo.
“We will continue to work with Interpol and our neighbouring states in anti-poaching activities, as we seek to break up and apprehend the ringleaders of the cartels. Those of our people who become willing accomplices will be arrested.”
The Herald Business last week exclusively revealed that convicted criminal Busani Moyo supplied nearly 2kg of cyanide, a dangerous and fast acting chemical compound, to Arnold Ndhlovu and Sibanda of Tsholotsho to poison elephants in the Hwange National Park.
Nhliziyo provided 5kg of the supposedly tightly controlled poison, used mainly in mining.
But after buying six ivory pieces from Sibanda and Ndhlovu, who have since been arrested for killing three elephants, both Moyo and Nhliziyo remain at large, allegedly because they pay the police and prosecutors to remain out of jail.
Moyo was last year convicted of illegal possession of 237kg of ivory, sentenced to nine years in jail with labour, but is currently out walking free, ostensibly on bail pending appeal.
Mr Kasukuwere admitted the justice delivery system was compromised, particularly in Bulawayo and the Victoria Falls, but commended the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority for working diligently with limited resources to curb poaching.
“We need to encourage our people not to become willing tools in the vicious, dangerous trade of illegal ivory,” the minister said, aware that some villagers are drawn into wildlife crime due to poverty.
“There are cases where we have members of the security forces, even the judiciary, find themselves in compromising situations, where we do not seem to get the commitment by some of the key personnel, which should help put away criminals for very long periods. And that is the fight we shall continue fighting.”
Zimbabwe has one of the largest elephant herds in the world — 80 000 —but the animal is now endangered due to rampant poaching.
Last year, over 300 elephants and various other game died after drinking poisoned water, the biggest such disaster on wildlife in the country during the past 25 years.
Cyanide killings have continued, but on a lower scale due to increased Government monitoring. The poison remains readily available to syndicates. Mr Kasukuwere alleged it is smuggled into Zimbabwe because local movement was tightly regulated.
Progress On Water Pollution
After spirited efforts by the Environment Ministry to kick out pollution earlier this year, the chaos around water pollution at institutional level has eased by some considerable margin.
During the course of the year, Bulawayo City Council has secured $30 million to rehabilitate its sewer reticulation system, which has drastically cut the amount of raw sewage discharged into the surrounding river network, particularly into Umguza.
Working with the UN’s Environment Programme, and the Environment Ministry, Bulawayo was currently in the process of restoring and decontaminating its feeder and major rivers supplying water to the city, said Mr Kasukuwere.
Chitungwiza Town Council has achieved similar successes, cutting by more than half its estimated 20 megalitres per day raw sewage spills into Manyame River, which in turn feeds Harare’s key water source, Lake Chivero.
This is thanks, in part, to a $3 million grant from the Africa Water Facility to refurbish water systems in the satellite town and help boost sanitation, hygiene and quality of drinking water.
Harare is currently overhauling its sewage water works at Mufakose and replacing many of the antiquated underground water pipelines, thanks to a $144 million loan from China EximBank.
The refurbishment should increase availability and reliability of safe drinking water to the capital’s 2,5 million thirsty residents some time in the future.
Apart from corporates, city councils compete among themselves to find out who it is that dumps larger quantities of waste into the country’s waterways.
Before the renovations, Harare alone daily discharged 3 885 megalitres or 19,43 million drums of raw sewage into water systems around the capital city.
That’s 299 times more than that released by Bulawayo. Several millions of dollars will be needed to treat the council’s recklessness.
What an exercise in self-destruction, as the councils were expected to distil for public consumption the same water they contaminated, at greater cost.
“We have seen increased compliance from companies that have been polluting the environment, both at the national and global levels,” explained Mr Kasukuwere.
“We will continue taking into account certain circumstances per individual company. EMA, working with the Local Government Ministry, have established a taskforce that is reviewing compliance on a weekly basis.
“There is significant progress made. We have witnessed the Deltas’ (Delta Corporation) of this world moving to stop (chemical) pollution of rivers like Manyame. Many companies have put in place mechanisms that control contamination of underground water.”
Moral Suasion
After the June 30, 2014 deadline for institutional polluters to put their houses in order, Mr Kasukuwere said “greater environmental awareness” was now beginning to show within the corporate world.
And instead of using stiffer penalties to ensure compliance, the minister said he preferred moral suasion, where both the individual and the institution would be made to understand and appreciate the true value of protecting the environment.
The current highest fine for environmental offenders is $5 000.
“The fines are not meant to destroy companies,” he explained, adding: “I think it would be a misnomer for us to look at them (fines) as a solution. We all need to be conscious of the environment, including the companies.
“They should not wait for us to come up with stringent legislation for them to respond to the disasters they have caused. The current fines are a lighter rod inviting companies to institute corrective action and to work closely with EMA in finding solutions.”
A time is coming, however, when regulation will be tightened to prevent waste from items such as cellphone recharge cards and fast-food packaging containers that continue to be an eyesore across many cities.
Mr Kasukuwere said companies in those business lines, and others, including commuter omnibus operators, will pay for failing to manage waste properly. Littering individuals will not be spared.
He said to have “stopped the madness” at Mazowe River, where alluvial gold miners poisoned the water with harmful chemicals such as mercury, but “we now have to contend with our planners”.
“We are moving to ensure that they comply with environmental requirements and are being taught as such by EMA,” the minister said.
Water pollution remains one of the biggest environmental ills in Zimbabwe, constantly disrupting the provision of clean, safe and reliable drinking water.
God is faithful.
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