The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Reporter
POLICE officers in Matabeleland North Province are allegedly conniving with some businesspeople and facilitating the movement of cattle from red zones for slaughter in green zones in defiance of a directive by the Government to ban cattle movement placed to control Foot and Mouth Disease.
The Department of Veterinary Services has since noted that the unscrupulous act by some law enforcers of facilitating the movement of animals from quarantined areas was frustrating Government’s efforts to curb the contagious infection in pursuit of “selfish individual gains” which is tantamount to economic sabotage.
The country spends more than $10 million annually purchasing FMD vaccines and other resources in an effort to curb and contain the disease, which first erupted on 16 August 2000 in a cattle feedlot in south-western Zimbabwe consequently leading to it losing its lucrative quota to export 9,100 tonnes of beef to the European Union in 2001 and affecting the beef industry.
According to a letter dated 15 September 2016 written on a letterhead with a Government insignia addressed to the Zimbabwe Republic Police’s Officer Commanding Hwange District (Chief Superintended Engelbert Wilson) and the Officer Commanding Victoria Falls District (Chief Superintendent Jairos Chiwona), Hwange district veterinary officer Dr Lovemore Dube complained that the department had “evidence” of police permitting movement of cattle from quarantined areas.
“I would like to inform the police that we have evidence of police in Victoria Falls permitting movement of cattle from quarantined areas without a veterinary movement permit and slaughtered under trees and I don’t know whether that is lawful. Officer-In-Charge of Jambezi has admitted to being instructed to do so. Again in Hwange there is no registered abattoir so it is illegal to permit movement of carcasses from an unregistered abattoir,” read part of the letter, stamped 19 September with a Department of Veterinary Services stamp.
The letter was also copied to Hwange Colliery Company Limited’s health department, Ministry of Health and Child Care, farmers representatives, district butcheries association among others. An outbreak of FMD was reported at three dip tanks in the Jambezi area and Mabale area in Hwange District in June.
Dr Dube said since there was an FMD outbreak in Hwange, the department had been forced put in place measures such as movement control and participatory epidemiology due to lack of vaccine. Contacted for a comment the provincial veterinary officer, Dr Polex Moyo confirmed the incidents in Hwange describing them as “scandalous”.
“I can’t talk much about what’s happening in Hwange but it’s scandalous, you can get hold of Dr Dube for more information.
In actual fact the problem is said to be in Victoria Falls,” said Dr Moyo.
However, Chief Superintendent Chiwona professed ignorance of the letter and vehemently denied permitting movement of cattle from quarantined areas.
“I am not aware of the letter, maybe it is still to reach us but they (veterinary services) once talked about the issue of the quarantine and I even instructed those in Jambezi to ban movement of cattle and we even stopped buying meat in that area because we used to buy there,” he said.
Efforts to get a comment from the Officer-Commanding Matabeleland North Senior Assistant Commissioner Jonathan Chituku were fruitless by the time of going to print. Police at Hwange District are being acccused of proposing the halting of the 14 slaughtering areas identified by the veterinary services.
“Bearing in mind that there is no registered abattoir in Hwange, farmers’ burden could be eased by having sales and those animals slaughtered on site (as has been the case over the years before I came into the district) or slaughtered at Manjolo Abattoir in Binga (which is a registered abattoir) and we felt that this would be further punishment to farmers because of distances involved.
“Currently, we have agreed as a province to cushion livestock farmers by allowing them to sell their cattle in those dip tanks where the disease has ceased being reported for over a month. All these measures are not random but scientific to curb spread of disease and at the same time showing a human face to livestock farmers who derive their livelihood from there,” said part of the letter by Dr Dube.
However, a source at the veterinary services said police were pushing for the closure of the 14 temporary slaughtering points recommended by the department citing that they contravened with some statues of the Animal Health Act.
The police are said to be pushing for cattle to be slaughtered at a slaughter pole allegedly run by a prominent Hwange businessman. It is said farmers are charged $25 a beast for services at the slaughter pole.
Contacted for comment Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Deputy Minister Paddy Zhanda who is responsible for livestock production said there should be no selective application of law hence anyone who was defying a Government directive must be brought to book.
“Law is law no-one is above the law, the only thing we should do is to expose those individuals. The police are responsible for setting up roadblocks to deter illegal movement of animals from quarantined areas into free zones,” said Dep Minister Zhanda.
He said courts should impose a stiffer sentence on unscrupulous individuals who are moving animals from affected areas to unaffected areas as it had severe economic repercussions.
“Moving an FMD animal from a red zone to a free zone is tantamount to a person who knows that he or she is HIV positive and deliberately infects another person. We therefore appeal to the courts to understand the gravity it has,” said Deputy Minister Zhanda.
Two weeks ago, a farmer, Kosam Nyoni (62) from Nyanje village in Gokwe was sentenced to 30 days imprisonment or to pay a fine of $100 for contravening section 28 subsection 3 (a) of the Animal Health Act chapter 19.06 “moving an animal which he or she knows or has reasonable ground for suspecting that is infected” by Nkayi magistrate Mr Temba Chimiso.
Nyoni moved two beasts from a quarantined area in the Midlands Province district into Nkayi District in Matabeleland North.
One of the beasts was infected with FMD and the veterinary services traced its origin to him.
The Veterinary Department has insisted that when there is an FMD outbreak, the law stipulates that there should be a quarantine in the district and movement for direct slaughter can only be lifted a month after the last reported case.
The department, according to the letter by Dr Dube was to lift cattle carcass movement ban at seven dip tanks in Mwemba and another seven in Inyantue as these were relatively far from FMD infected areas. However, movement restrictions remained in place in areas under Jambezi, Ndlovu, Ndangababi and Matetsi.
“After liaison with the provincial veterinary officer Dr Polex Moyo, we decided that since there is no FMD vaccine, and looking at the economic situation and considering that farmers rely on their livestock for their livelihood, we could open belts for direct slaughter in areas not affected but at the same time seeing to it that we do not spread the disease,” reads part of the letter.
@DNsingo
