The Sunday News
Sunday News Reporter
HWANGE district’s indigenous tree species are on the verge of extinction due to massive deforestation through well-orchestrated charcoal production syndicates that have sprouted at most compounds in the coal-mining town.
A recent investigation by Sunday News revealed that a number of people in Sinderrella, Madumabisa and Makwika compounds were eking out a living through cutting down mopane and iron wood trees to produce charcoal in the middle of the densely forested area.
The illicit charcoal production and selling activities are organised in such that the business continues to thrive under the noses of environment monitoring departments such as the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and the Forestry Commission whose efforts are also complemented by the police and local authority personnel.
This comes amid reports that the country is losing an estimated 330 000 hectares of vegetation annually due to different activities.
The unscrupulous charcoal merchants prefer to sell their product to “serious buyers” – those in need of 10 bags or more.
The charcoal is kept in 50 kilogramme polythene bags and is stashed in the bushes. The price ranges from $5 to $8 a bag.
“I am sorry my friend I can’t afford to walk all the way to the bushes to collect two bags. I can go there if only you want to buy 10 bags or more because where I keep them it’s quite a distance,” said one of the merchants, known as Clever of Madumabisa, after this reporter had indicated that he wanted to buy the charcoal.
Another merchant from Makwika where the Sunday News crew ended up buying four bags at $8 each, boasted that he had 200 bags of charcoal hidden in the forest. In an effort to find the hiding place, the newscrew accompanied the seller and his colleague for a distance of about three kilometres.
“Most unemployed people are now relying on producing charcoal and selling it to haulage truck drivers who later sell it in other towns while some even cross with it to Zambia where it is in high demand.
“The practice is spreading throughout the coal mining town largely due to the fact that Hwange Colliery Company hasn’t been paying its employees for some time and as such they will be supplementing their income,” said one resident on condition of anonymity.
EMA Matabeleland North provincial manager Mrs Chipo Mpofu-Zuze said she was unaware of the illegal charcoal deals and could only say: “We are not directly involved in monitoring issues to do with deforestation we only do that through the Forestry Act. The people who are directly involved with such cases are the Forestry Commission.”
Charcoal is a light black residue consisting of carbon and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances.
Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen. It is usually an impure form of carbon as it contains ash.
According to the Forest Act Chapter 19:05 Section 65, the manufacture of charcoal in Zimbabwe has never been sanctioned and remains banned.
Those that are found in possession of the product are subjected to a spot fine by EMA while major offenders are liable to prosecution through the courts of law.
Under Statutory Instrument 116 of 2012 of the Forest (Control of Firewood, Timber and Forest Produce) Regulations 2012, charcoal is fuel wood and anyone trading in this product without a licence can be prosecuted and the equipment used to commit these offences will be confiscated by the State.
Forestry Commission information and communications manager Ms Violet Makoto said charcoal syndicates were not peculiar to Matabeleland North but other cases had been reported in provinces such as Mashonaland West.
“We have tried and will continue to engage local authorities and rural district councils so that we can fight this problem. It’s unfortunate that after we carry out raids and arrests on these syndicates, it’s only a matter of time before the problem re-emerges but will continue our war with them. Many are citing the charcoal business as their only source of livelihood but we are saying that forests are a public resource that no-one should exploit for their own immediate benefit at the expense of the rest of the country,” she said.
Section 4 of the Communal Lands Forest Produce Act allows inhabitants of communal lands to exploit the forest produce for own use, but not for commercial purposes.
