The Sunday Mail
Chimanimani’s magnificent Skyline Junction is an ideal place for travellers to take a breath and admire the scenic mountain district.
On this highland, three tarred roads split the thick green vegetation and converge to keep Chimanimani, Chipinge and Mutare districts connected.
The lofty pine and gum trees which seem to burst from the gorges with verve provide an ornamental flare on the flanks of the road junction which is one of the most breath taking places in Manicalalnd.
It is particularly the tall gum and pine trees which, standing closely next to each other for several kilometres, form timber plantations which make the precipitous area more eye catching.
Taking the Chimanimani route from the junction, which is some 20 kilometres of descending and meandering black tarmac, the green plantations provide a compelling view.
It is because of this beauty that the people of Chimanimani love the plantations.
To them, the plantations also provide much more than just pleasant viewing as they have for decades been the source of livelihood and a symbol of empowerment for the people of Chimanimani and the nation at large.
However, as one goes further down, the pleasant green scenery suddenly and annoyingly change into a humongous camouflage. The once green and beautiful plantations here are nothing else but tattered remnants left behind by raging fires.
As you go further down the plantations get littered with sporadic small human settlements. Local people say the emergence of these illegal settlers has resulted in the plantations being burnt frequently. It is a development which is threatening to take away Chimanimani’s gloss and its livelihood. The plantations are burning time and again and the blame is being put on these settlers. This has resulted in thousands of people losing their jobs as production falls drastically. Those who had ventured into the business of retailing timber, transporting and carpentry are also feeling the pinch.
“They (illegal settlers) are becoming a major problem for us because each day our plantations and the livelihood of our people are becoming more and more threatened,” said an official in the Ministry of information who is based in Chimanimani.
“The damage is evident and as long as there are people living in the middle of those plantations the risk of fire continues to grow.”
It is because of these activities that one of the biggest timber producing companies, Allied Timbers, lost millions of dollars after fire gutted one of their plantations.
Apart from Chimanimani, the menace of fires destroying plantations in Manicaland continues to grow at a time the country needs to be increasing its export output. The hectarage of timber continues to diminish while thousands continue to lose their jobs.
At its peak, Zimbabwe’s forestry sector directly employed 14 445 people and over 40 000 indirectly in downstream industries contributing three percent to the GDP (according to a FAO report).
Currently the sector contributes less than three percent to GDP.
According to statistics from Timber Producers Association the area under exotic forestry declined from 120 182 hectares in 2000 to 82 352 hectares in 2013 with 58 percent of this land being State land while the rest is made up of private estates.
It seems the destruction may continue for a while as there seems to be no concrete efforts to deal with the issue.
“These areas are under the protection of those who own or run them. There is nothing we can do and the affected people should find means to stop these kind of things,” said Mr Steady Kangata, spokesperson of the Environmental Management Authority.
“Yes we know the settlers are a problem, they are causing problems everywhere even in the wildlife sector but owners should protect their plantations by setting up fire guards while the issue of settlers is addressed.”
In a statement Environment Minister, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, warned that with current drought conditions the situation could become worse in a few years’ time.
“Under the current El-Nino phenomenon that is affecting Zimbabwe and other parts of the Southern Africa, rainfall-dependent economic activities such as forestry and natural resources management are likely to suffer due to the irregularity or absence of rainfall.
“In 2015 seed production dropped by 30 percent to 20 751 kg cones of pines compared to 29 780 in 2014. This was attributed to a combination of the extended drought and forest fires that occurred in 2015 that rendered some of the seed orchards unproductive.”
Timber Producers Federation has highlighted that the timber industry is being affected greatly by illegal settlers.
There are an estimated 3 000 illegal settlers in Chimanimani and the DA and the lands committee are accused of allocating land to illegal settlers.
According to a research expert, Lovemore Marisa, the companies who own timber plantations are also to blame as they are failing to integrate villagers in their operations.
“Generally speaking, timber plantation provides an important and profitable economic venue as long as it is based on rational exploitation of human and natural resources. However, this is not the case in many areas, and commercial forest companies have lagged behind in formulating effective policies that integrate surrounding communities and their access to resource and utilisation.”
Another expert, Zvidzai Chidhakwa, in a research found out that conflict between plantation owners in Chimanimani and villagers in Haroni and Rusitu forests started during the colonial era.
“Conflict started when the Government set aside the forests as protected areas in the mid-1970s without taking local forest resource rights into account.”
Efforts to get a comment from Lands Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora were not fruitful as he was out of the country last week.
