The Sunday News
Simba Jemwa, Sunday News Correspondent
For three days, uncontrollable veld fires hit the Fort Rixon-Chalet area in Matabeleland South leaving several farmers with hundreds of acres of ashes and burnt fences to deal with in the aftermath.
Investigations are currently underway on what caused the fires but an increase in temperature as well as strong winds that led the fires astray spreading them across about 12 farms.
According to reports from some farmers in the area, the wild fires were eventually doused by rains that fell in the area on Thursday halting what could have been thousands of dollars of damage and losses for the farmers as night after night, local farmers and their workers had battled to contain the fires.
The rains spared the farmers possible losses of homes, air quality degraded and possibly the local economy which could have been stopped in its tracks, and scores of people in the area forced to leave their homes.
Hundreds of hectares of land have been destroyed and it is said of the across the region most are uncontrollable and the fire fighters from within the farms have tirelessly been struggling to douse some of the fires.
It is believed that the fires were started by either poachers or illegal gold miners using metal detectors or sensors as they are popularly known and investigations are currently underway to come up with a solid report on how the fire started.
Environmental Management Agency Matabeleland South Provincial Manager, Mr. Decent Ndlovu said his office had not received information about the fires but said the district officer was consulting with local farmers for more information. He also said their satellites had failed to pick any fires but pointed out that this did not discount the possibility of the fires.
“We haven’t received any reports of any fires in the area yet but I have asked our district officer to investigate and give my office a report. Our satelittes also did not pick the fires but this does not suggest that this did not happen,” Mr. Ndlovu said.
One affected farmer, Mr, Thulani Chauke of Blinkbonne Estate said about 500mhecetares of his land had been burnt during the fires but added that h was fortunate to not have lost any of his cattle herd during the fires. He said burnt fences were the major losses suffered but was quick to point out that his farm measuring over 1000 hectares could have been burnt down had the rains not intervened.
“The fires started on Tuesday and we battle for three days to put them out. It was quite a battle and I think we would have lost it had the rains not intervened, By the time it rained, about half of my farm which is over 500 hectares of land had already been burnt,” Mr. Chauke said.
The Fort Rixon area has recently been beset by illegal; gold miners using detectors to scour for gold deposits. Mr. Ndlovu said the miners routinely start veld fires to clear forests for their illegal exploration and mining activities.
No casualties of human or animal life has been reported so far. @RealSimbaJemwa
