ZIMBABWEAN GOVERNMENT ON ENVIRONMENT

 
                                                                                          Government has applauded environmental organisations for working in partnerships to achieve sustainable development.Officiating at the Environment Africa’s 20th annual general meeting, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management secretary Ms Florence Nhekairo said individual effort did not yield the same results.

“This is evident in Environment Africa’s approach of establishing and supporting Private Public Community Partnerships.
“The main focus in this approach is the involvement of communities that have often been left on the periphery of development initiatives,” she said.
Ms Nhekairo said partnerships were incomplete without the communities and development was incomplete if communities continued to be sidelined.
She said Environment Africa was complementing Government’s efforts of reforestation.
“The Ministry supports the “For Every Child, A Tree Campaign” as it seeks to bring awareness on the importance of trees to the young generations who are the leaders of tomorrow.
“I believe such initiatives are the way forward in addressing our environmental concerns as these affect us all and will have a negative impact on generations to come,” she said.
http://www.herald.co.zw/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=72109:environmentalist-lauded&catid=38:local-news&Itemid=131#.UVmBxTcR3IU

UNIVERSITY STUDENT CROWNED FOR MISS BULAWAYO ENVIRONMENT

BULAWAYO – Tshwane University student Nkanyeziyethu Malunga beat 16 contestants to claim the inaugural glamorous Miss Bulawayo Environment 2012 beauty pageant title at a colourful and well-attended ceremony held at Horizon Pub on Friday.

Seventeen-year-old Atipa Busuman landed the Miss Personality title.

Twenty three-year-old Malunga was flanked by Marybeth Ushe (20) crowned the first princess and Thubelihle Ncube (22) as the second princess. Seventeen-year-old Atipa Busuman landed the Miss Personality title.

Initially, the competition was set to have 20 models fighting for the honours but unfortunately four of them failed to make it to the finals due to an alleged failure to complete an environmental project which was a prerequisite for the competition.
Standing in for deputy prime minister Thokozani Khupe, director in her office Adelis Sibuta was not only the guest of honour but crowned the inaugural winner Malunga much to a delight of revellers who had packed the venue.
“I don’t even know what to say about this. I am just so delighted as this is the biggest achievement I have made in life. I am hoping that I will take this to greater heights in as far as preserving our environment is concerned,” Malunga told the Daily News in a visibly ecstatic mood after being crowned queen.
For her feat, the Phelandaba-based Malunga walked away with various accolades including vouchers; ICDL courses from a college of her own choice, two week holiday at Victoria Falls and cash prizes among other benefits.
As unique as it was, the contestants took to the ramp on four categories that included the environment funky wear, contemporary wear, evening wear and designer wear. However, the swim wear category was ruled out as it was considered not in line with the advocacy for preserving the environment.
Interestingly, the pageant’s environmental theme, “Forests for People” saw models strolling on the ramp clad in recycled material in the form of green tree branches and leaves, recycled plastics, newspapers and cud boxes.
Sibuta urged the models to be true ambassadors in the endeavour to reduce the negative effects of environmental degradation in the country.
“As models you are expected to uphold the values of Ubuntu as we take the fight to preserve our endangered environment. For the winners, you have a tough challenge ahead of you; use this platform to be the Malaika Mashandus of tomorrow. This is exactly what we expect from you. Let it not end here,” added Sibuta.
She said the beauties should remember that this was not about cash and beauty “but about beautiful intelligence. We are looking for beautiful intellectuals who are able to take the environmental challenge ahead of them.”
Pageant director Briaton Takundwa expressed his gratitude to the support that the event received from the corporate world as well as government through the ministry of Environment and Human Resource Management.
Hip-hop rapper Poy and local dance group Simunye Simunya did what they know best while supermodel, TV and radio personality Godfrey Koti was the master of ceremony. The Miss Zimbabwe Environment event will be held in Harare on April 27 as part of the grand plan to go national. Daily News

THE Bulawayo City Council fined $5 000

THE Bulawayo City Council has been fined $5 000, while a number of companies have been fined up to $1 000 for environmental crimes that result in the pollution of Umguza River.

The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) also fined a number of leather tanning companies in the Belmont industrial area, for releasing untreated toxic chemicals directly into the environment.

The toxins reportedly end up in Umguza River, via the city's storm drains, where they can cause cancer, skin disorders and a number of water-borne diseases to villagers in Umguza district.
They also kill fish and other marine life.

Leading bakeries that include Lobels and Bakers Inn were issued with warnings in an ongoing monitoring exercise by the agency.

Speaking during a tour of illegal dumpsites and environmental hotspots in the city, EMA's provincial environmental manager for Bulawayo, Mr Decent Ndlovu, said the pollution at Umguza River had reached a crisis levels.

He appealed to the judiciary to mete out stiffer sentences to offenders saying at present, the country's legal system did not seem to take environmental crimes seriously, although they had far reaching effects that could affect people for generations.

"We issued BCC with a ticket for $5 000 for discharging raw sewage directly into the environment at a number of points, including broken pipes at Sidojiwe Flats and another broken pipe that pours effluent directly into Umguza River at Kingsdale suburb. The problem at Kingsdale has been around for more than two years," said Mr Ndlovu.

He said council was contravening section 22 (1) of Statutory Instrument 6 of 2007.

"The waste from other pipes in the city travels through storm drains and eventually reaches Umguza River. It infects the water with faecal colliforms that have pathogens that can cause cholera, dysentery, bilharzia and typhoid. These diseases can be communicated to people who drink the water downstream at Umguza," said Mr Ndlovu.

When Chronicle visited the discharge sites, an overpowering stench pervaded the areas.

Mr Ndlovu said the Cold Storage Company (CSC), Belmont Leather and Prestige Leather were fined $500 each for illegal dumpsites while another tannery was fined $1 000 for deliberately channelling toxic effluent into the city's storm drains.

"These companies were dumping animal skins at unlicensed points, thereby contravening section 5 (1) of SI 6/07 of the Environmental Management Act Chapter 20:27. These skins are treated with chromium 6, a highly toxic substance that can cause cancer, skin disorders and irritation or ulcers in the stomach and intestines. They also have dangerous acids which all find their way to Umguza River. They also contaminate ground water when it rains," he said.

The dumpsites had an acrid stench, suggestive of a high acid content as the skins decomposed.

The water in Umguza River had a black colour and a bad smell.

"Residents have often complained of the smell that is caused by the smell from Matsheumhlope and Mazayi Rivers caused by these chemicals and effluent from council sewers. We have received a complaint from the Association of Businesses in Zimbabwe and St Patrick's Hotel among others," said Mr Ncube.

He said EMA suspected that a number of companies deliberately dumped toxic waste into water bodies at night, adding that investigations by the agency would expose them.

Mr Ndlovu said EMA would compile a list of industries that were guilty of releasing untreated waste into the environment and educate them on the dangers.

"Our staff can assist them to come up programmes for safely disposing of waste. We are prepared to carry out workshops with companies and inspections for compliance are ongoing," he said.

"We appeal to members of the public to report environmental crimes in Bulawayo to EMA at (09) 64705. As an agency, we say environmental information should be availed to anyone who needs it. Companies who cause pollution should be able to explain their actions to the public."

Mr Ndlovu said entities like BCC that had been warned a number of times risked being taken to court or appearing before the EMA Board for stiffer sentences. The city of Harare, Chitungwiza and Norton have appeared before the board after repeatedly flouting environmental law.

Zim honoured to host UNWTO general assembly

zimbabwe and Zambia will host the United Nations World Tourism Organisation general assembly as part of President Mugabe’s dream to showcase the country as a world of wonders, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Walter Mzembi said. Speaking during a public lecture at the University of

Zimbabwe yesterday, Minister Mzembi said Zimbabwe would exploit the honour bestowed upon it to develop Victoria Falls to international levels.
Minister Mzembi said Government had set aside more than 1 200 hectares of land to develop permanent structures that would increase tourist arrivals in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe expects more than three million arrivals this year.
The target is expected to exceed the 15 million targeted for 2015 after the UNWTO general assembly in August next year.

“We are hosting the UNWTO general assembly as a vision that President Mugabe had and we, as the tourism ministry what we are doing is to interpret the king’s dream,” he said.
Minister Mzembi dismissed reports that Zimbabwe would use temporary structures for the general assembly.

“We will not trivialise President Mugabe’s dream by building temporary structures for the meeting.
“Our vision is to have conference facilities that would compete with the International Conference Centre in Cape Town or facilities in Kenya or Durban in Victoria Falls,” he said.

Minister Mzembi said playing host to the UNWTO was an opportunity to build structures that would last for generations.
“It was President Mugabe’s dream that Zimbabwe hosts the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit in 1992.
“It is the same vision by the same leader that would see us develop the Victoria Falls to attract more tourists into Zimbabwe.”

He said Zimbabwe would want to build structures that last for generations like what South Africa, Britain and China did after playing host to some sporting events.
Minister Mzembi said Zimbabwe was targeting citizens residing outside the country to increase tourist arrivals.
“The Diaspora contributes the largest source market for Zimbabwe. A Diaspora strategy is one of the key imperatives for attracting arrivals into Zimbabwe.”
Minister Mzembi urged Zimbabweans to work hard for the success of the meeting.

“The possibility of Zimbabwe hosting              such an event would take us another 372          years.
“We need to put the best foot forward to deliver a uniquely African general assem-          bly.
He said the UNWTO would rebrand Zimbabwe hence the need for unity in the country.

Minister Mzembi said Government wanted to develop Victoria Falls without interfering with its natural outlook.
“We have realised that Victoria Falls attracts a certain demographic group but there is a need to develop the area so that it also attracts the younger generations.”

Zimbabwe tourism is this year expected to contribute 12 percent to the GDP translating to more than US$1 billion to the economy.
The tourism and hospitality sector also expects to contribute more than 15 percent to the GDP with US$5 billion a year.
Zimbabwe and Zambia are the hosts of the UNWTO in Victoria Falls from August 21 to 28 next year.

VICTORIA FALLS

NATURE’S exhaustless generosity bestowed upon Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls, in its grand totality whose grandeur and splendour defines tourist attraction beyond mere tourism magazine hyperbole. The Victoria Falls are among the most spectacular waterfalls in the world and are undoubtedly the best
tourist attraction in Zimbabwe.
They are also one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the world and the only one found in Southern Africa.

Very few destinations in Africa, and indeed the world over can offer the tourist visual delight like the Victoria Falls. The Zambezi River plunges noisily down a series of basalt gorges that are more than 2km wide at this point and raises an iridescent mist that can be seen from more than 20km away.
A series of immense cataracts where 500 000 cubic litres of water plunge — per minute — thunderously over about 1 700 metres wide cliff edge during the peak period, is a rare spectacle. Very, very, rare indeed.
It is certainly the cash cow of Zimbabwe tourism and all and sundry should understand why suddenly it has become the cynosure of the world as it prepares to co-host the United Nations World Tourism Organisation 2013 General Assembly with Livingstone in Zambia.
There is no doubt that the UNWTO family will enjoy everything including aerial excursions courtesy of the Flight of the Angels, river rides in boats, elephant rides and, of course, the Zambezi sunset cruise.
Every discerning tourist — the world over — wishes to visit the Victoria Falls. Victoria Falls National Park is umbilically attached to Zambezi National Park, upstream. The two are inseparable.
The resultant spewing mist from the gorges nurture a rainforest, a vast swathe of exquisite beauty, where ferns, sycamore figs, ebony, mahogany and palm trees flourish.
A well-manicured path meanders through the rainforest giving a view of the falls and effectively juxtaposing it with the forests, for the discerning eye.
It is fact not fiction that preservation of the rainforest is achieved to a large extend through managing activities that would impact on the flow regime of the Zambezi River system.
Management practices that would make the rainforest more resilient to current variability in climate change have not, therefore, been restricted to only the rainforest and meant an integrated approach, rather than managing the rainforest as an island.
The rainforest as part of Victoria Falls National Park should be viewed as a bigger ecosystem that cannot be managed as a discrete unit without triggering a slow but sure process of degradation.
The area was designated a national park after 1975 despite having being designated a national monument in 1972.
This was after the realisation that the rainforest is one of the only two forests in Zimbabwe with high biodiversity status species and habitats that were poorly represented in other parts of the country and face the greatest threats in terms of replacement and vulnerability.
The level of importance of the ecosystem of the Victoria Falls rainforest requires specialised conservation skill.

Mana Pools: Zimbabwe’s new tourism paradise

BY TANYARADZWA NYAMUTSWA

 

ASK any discerning Chinese tourist which one is the best tourist attraction to visit in Zimbabwe, if they don’t say Mana Pools, think twice about them. There is a place the Chinese have fallen in love with.

 As the mighty Zambezi River serpentines down to the ocean after Victoria Falls, its decent but powerful flow is disturbed not by natural phenomena, but by a huge man-made water trap, Kariva, bastardised to Kariba.

In the belly of the massive Kariba Dam wall is a hydro-electricity generation spectacle, which is a tourist attraction in its own right, besides supplying electricity to Zimbabwe and Zambia.

This spectacle, no doubt, disturbs the decency of the river as its starts its long frothy journey into tot the Lower Zambezi Valley on its final journey to another man-made trap, Cabora Bassa, where the water escapes once again on its final tour to the Indian Ocean.

But of interest today is the area between Kariba and Cabora Bassa, which has fast become the new tourism hub of Zimbabwe, after the Victoria Falls.

After angrily gushing out of the wrath of the cruel turbines in its escape from Lake Kariba, the water appears a bit fatigued as it disappears into a narrow gorge that looks like an abyss.

Surprisingly, the river thereafter, emerges from the deep gorge reinvigorated and spreading into a flattened, fertile and vast expanse of floodplain that geomorphology condemned into twists and turns that systematically formed four (mana in Shona lingua franca) pools, and ox-bow lakes.
The mighty Zambezi River flows through the Lower Zambezi Valley, a huge rift in the earth’s crust.
Over the millennia the Zambezi has rushed through this valley creating islands, channels and sandbanks.

Old river meanders, left in the mineral-rich volcanic soils, have formed into small ox-bow lakes surrounded by lush vegetation and tall old stands of mahogany and ebony. This abundance of water and luxuriant greenery accounts for the valley’s wealth of big game.
The pools are forever bursting with a profusion of birds and animals, especially during dry season from June to October.

Welcome to Mana Pools, Zimbabwe’s second World Heritage Site and latter-day tourist attraction of choice.

Here the visitor is treated to a perfect theatre of the jungle.
Within the stunted bush shrubbery and lush vegetation surrounding the four huge pools, buffalo graze hurriedly conscious of stalking lions and appear always restless while on the trees, chirping birds summersault from one branch to another.

Under the canopy of whipping riverine trees, a spitting distance away, elegant eland mix with shaggy water buck, radiant butterflies flutter gently between flowering shrubs while dragon flies hover above lily flowers.

For those who have fallen in love with nature, the effortless aerial displays of dragonflies on the lily-studded water ponds are a spectacle to watch.
There are also flycatchers, white-collared pratincole, banded snake eagle and yellow spotted nicator birds.

It is common spectacle to see a huge elephant bull, stand on its hind legs, its trunk attempting to reach for its lunch from a sausage tree.

This is Mana Pools, where Zambezi River changed its course a long time ago due to massive siltation, forming four distinct ox-bow lakes.

WATER CRISIS IN HARARE

Governments must craft watertight policies that will safeguard the rights of migrants and national security of migrant receiving countries. Addressing participants in a two day national migration
management workshop in Harare yesterday, Foreign Affairs secretary Ambassador Joey Bimha said migration is a cross cutting phenomenon that requires close collaboration of Government and civilian structures.

In a speech read on his behalf  by multi-national affairs acting director Mr Batiraishe Mukonoweshuro, Ambassador Bimha said the ambiguous characteristic of migration required an all encompassing approach recognising the diverse responsibilities and co-ordinated response to migration issues.

He said some countries had shunned such structures or closed them completely because they are a potential magnet for people from all over the world.