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Nduduzo Tshuma and Eliah Saushoma
PROPERTY worth an estimated $100,000 went up in smoke at Fountains Farm, Blackwaters, Shangani, last week when a farm house and citrus tree plantation were burnt in a veld fire reportedly started by illegal gold panners. It also emerged that two weeks ago a suspected panner was burnt beyond recognition in Bubi district after he failed to escape a veld fire due to drunkenness.
Kwanele Moyo, son of Crescencia Moyo, who owns Plot Number 4, Fountains Farm, told Chronicle that the property was burnt last Wednesday when illegal panners started a fire to clear vegetation where they wanted to dig for gold.
“When the fire started, the gold panners were seen running away with gold detectors. They burnt the grass so that they could search for gold with their detectors but the fire spread to the farmhouse and destroyed property in the house,” he said.
“The fire razed a gazebo and a storeroom with equipment and farm implements. It spread to the citrus field and destroyed 4,000 orange trees. About 2,000 bales of grass and 30 tonnes of oranges were destroyed.”
Moyo said the fence and electrical poles were damaged with electric cables now hanging precariously.
“There is a notorious group of panners in the area led by a panner called Delani. They are causing so much trouble in the area. They started panning here last year and at one point we rounded up four and took them to the police with their detectors but strangely they were released,” he said.
“Their leader Delani came and threatened my mother in front of the police. He also threatened me with death right in front of the police saying they would make sure that we move away from the farm.”
Moyo said he filed a report over the death threats but nothing was done to the panners.
No comment could be obtained from Matabeleland South police spokesperson Inspector Philisani Ndebele.
The suspected panner who died has been identified only as Owen, popularly known as Mtshifana.
Ward 23 councillor, Irene Khupe, told Chronicle that Mtshifana could have been burnt as he slept in a bush near Turk Mine after the fire surrounded him.
“We suspect the man was drunk from the position the body was found and as such he failed to escape from the raging fire that broke out in the area recently. A bottle of beer was beside the charred body,” she said.
“We are sick and tired of these panners and their detectors. Those things I understand only work on clear land. Thus, they burn the area before using their silly machines and at times they do not even get the gold. They have destroyed grazing land, these people are just cruel.”
Speaking at a field day at Cookie Moyo’s homestead at Rouxdale village in Bubi District on Friday, Zanu-PF national secretary for production and labour Cde Dzikamai Mavhaire urged farmers to work closely with the police in curbing veld fires.
“Surely in villages people know each other and when something happens you know who the suspect is. So don’t hesitate reporting them to police because you farmers continue losing your wealth,” said Cde Mavhaire.
“You know we want mining but not activities that go against production. In actual fact these illegal miners sometimes do not even get anything after destroying pastures and they move on. But the bottom line is they would have destroyed your wealth, they would have killed your livestock.”
The Environmental Management Agency district officer, Robert Msipa, said so far 25,000 hectares of land have been destroyed in the district before the end of the fire season, compared to 19,000 last year.
The fire season starts on July 31 and ends on October 31 each year.
The Acting District Administrator Tapiwa Zivovoyi said the district is the worst affected in the country as the veld fires have so far affected at least 2,500 head of cattle in an area with a herd of 87,000.
Online Reporter