adminLeonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
BINGA District could be poised for a major economic turnaround after the government issued 17 fishing permits to traditional leaders in the fish rich area, in line with the country’s economic empowerment programmes.
Fish farmers in Binga have in the past complained about failure to access fishing permits owing to exorbitant licence fees pegged at $2,000 each.
The permits issued by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority are five times costlier to those issued by Zambia and Mozambique on the same river. Zambia charges $400 while Mozambique permits cost $600 per year.
Matabeleland North Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, Cde Cain Mathema, presented the permits to some of the chiefs in Binga during his visit to the Bulawayo Kraal Irrigation Scheme on Friday.
Cde Mathema urged chiefs and their subjects to immediately form business consortiums to start harvesting fish on a commercial scale.
“I’ve given all chiefs fishing permits. Only three of them had such permits and now all of them are holders of the licences that empower communities to catch fish and sell,” he said.
Cde Mathema said since the visit to Binga by Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko last month when he promised the chiefs permits, his office had been pushing for the processing of the permits.
“Chiefs should now look for partners to be able to acquire rigs so that they start fishing on a commercial scale,” he said.
Cde Mathema said the permits should change the welfare of the people of Binga as well as spur development.
He dismissed as untrue talk that Binga people were not benefiting from their natural resources. Cde Mathema said a number of schools and clinics were constructed after independence using locally available resources.
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