Chronicle Editor
Fairness Moyana in Hwange
HWANGE Local Board (HLB) has confiscated an assortment of tools used in the illegal abstraction of clay soil by poachers for brick making as part of efforts to arrest the environmental menace.
The confiscated tools and apparatus such as wheelbarrows, shovels, diggers, picks and buckets will soon be auctioned, council said. HLB has been struggling to deal with illegal clay soil poachers whose activities have led to massive land degradation where in some cases open pits have been left exposing residents, especially children, to hazards.
The soil is mostly used in brick moulding and the increased demand for bricks due to the boon in the construction sector has seen rampant clay soil poaching. Acting town secretary, Mr Paulos Mabhureni told Sunday News that council was concerned with the practice which was prevalent in Empumalanga and Don Bosco suburbs, prompting them to carry out a blitz.
“It is true that council confiscated tools and apparatus such as wheelbarrows, shovels, diggers, picks and buckets used by the soil poachers in the bushy area of Empumalanga and Don Bosco suburbs. As a local authority we are very much concerned about the clay soil poaching activities taking place in the said areas,” said Mr Mabhureni.
He said the confiscated equipment will soon be auctioned through a public auction while the local authority will continue to carry out the blitz in an effort to deter the soil poachers. Mr Mabhureni said the open pits left by the poachers were not only posing a danger to human beings but were rendering certain areas undevelopable, prejudicing council of revenue.
“The open pits left behind by the poachers are becoming a danger to both human beings and animals with their existence being more hazardous during the rainy season. The clay soil poaching activities have also rendered certain areas where we have allocated housing stands undevelopable.”
The local authority has been struggling to deal with the illicit activity which has been going on for 15 years with various efforts failing to curb it. The extraction of clay soil for brick moulding in an urban area is not permissible under the Regional, Town and Country Planning Act whose implementation by council has been met with resistance with cases where council security details have been threatened with violence by poachers who will be outnumbering them.
Three years ago, the local authority rehabilitated part of the area that had been affected by clay poaching after they got an order from Environment Management Agency (EMA). Council’s efforts to deal with the menace got effective with the support of state security agents and other stakeholders under an operation code-named Thunder Ball two years ago. The operation was meant to protect wildlife, curb the transportation or selling of wild animals by unlicensed dealers as well as to curtail deforestation and land degradation in the country.
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