Story by Tichaona Kurewa
Zimbabwe’s wildlife-based land reform programme is transforming communities in Breakfast area of Hwange District.
At the turn of the millennium, Zimbabwe embarked on a land reform programme which has seen black people also getting land in wildlife farms, with annual hunting quotas worth over US$100 000 in some cases.
In Breakfast, communities have managed to acquire equipment such as tractors, dam scooper and toll grader.
Other achievements include construction of classroom blocks at two primary schools in the area, sinking of boreholes and setting up of a scouts’ team to protect the area from poachers.
“As women, we used to carry water buckets long distances, but because of hunting proceeds we now have water at our homestead. We even have gardens at home were are even selling the produces to towns such as Hwange and Victoria Falls,” said a beneficiary.
Leadership in the area attributed the success to the vision that the country has set.
“We have achieved quite a lot of things, I would like to thank the vision that we have as a country because it has guided us through. The equipment that we have is assisting to maintain our roads, fire guards, recovering species such as elephants after hunting. We are realising that it is a good model to do hunting in our community. We are doing very well. We are managing the resources ourselves being guided by the CAMPFIRE Act that quiets us to utilise our proceeds. Money from hunting is helping us a lot to develop this area,” explained Hwange RDC Ward 1 Councillor, Vulindlela Mhlanga.
Through various initiatives, government is on a drive to ensure no one and no place is left behind in the national development matrix towards attainment of an upper middle income society by 2030.
