Online Reporter
Rutendo Nyeve, Victoria Falls Bureau
NEARLY US$1 million worth of property that includes agricultural equipment, tourism facilities, cars and residential homes has been destroyed by veld fires across the country since the beginning of the fire restriction season on 1 July.
The devastating blazes have also claimed two lives and burnt a total of 582 922.60 hectares of land from 1 792 recorded incidents.
Environmental Management Agency (EMA) Education and Publicity Manager, Ms Amkela Sidange, revealed in response to media enquiries from Zimpapers.
Despite the significant losses the agency has, however, reported a notable decrease in fire activity compared to the same period last year.
“In 2024, a total of 3 035 veld fire incidents affected 675 128.9 hectares. This represents a substantial reduction of 40.96 percent in the number of incidents and a 13.66 percent decrease in the area burnt in 2025,” said Ms Sidange.
She attributed the positive trend to favourable weather conditions earlier in the season.
“The reduction is attributed to among other possible drivers, increased residual moisture and green vegetation earlier in the season associated with the late rains received around April,” she said.
However, the agency has sounded a strong note of caution. The situation has deteriorated sharply in recent weeks due to changing weather patterns.
“The gradual increase in temperature, drying of vegetation and persistent windy weather being experienced since the beginning of August has fuelled a drastic increase in veld-fire outbreaks resulting in significant loses in biodiversity, property and life,” she said.
The shift has led to a more alarming statistic as the average area burnt per incident has skyrocketed to 209 93 hectares in 2025, compared to just 35.31 hectares in 2024.
Ms Sidange linked this increased intensity to increased windy weather conditions, dry vegetation coupled with lack of fireguards in most land properties, thus, making it difficult to put out the fires.
“The fires have been most prevalent in the Mashonaland provinces, with Mashonaland West accounting for 43.33 percent of incidents, followed by Mashonaland East (17.72 percent) and Mashonaland Central (14.82 percent).
“Urban areas, while less affected, have not been spared. We have has some major fires in Bulawayo and Mutare. A veld fire associated with land clearing in the city of Bulawayo in early August resulted in the loss of an upmarket residential property and recently tens of cars in a workshop in Mutare went up in flames due to a veld fire associated with waste burning,” she said.
Human activity remains the primary cause.
“Most of the veld fires are due to land clearing for farming and general negligence when handling fire,” said Ms Sidange.
In response, EMA has intensified enforcement, issuing 38 tickets and opened 13 dockets against veld fire offenders and served 1 228 environmental protection orders to strengthen veld fire management mechanisms.
Ms Sidange emphasised that the ultimate solution requires collective public responsibility.
She urged the nation to act responsibly during the fire restriction period by vigilantly taking necessary precautions when handling fire and strictly prohibiting the use of fire outside residential and business properties, and also ensuring land properties are protected by standard fireguards as stipulated in statutory instrument 7 of 2007.
She specifically encouraged wheat farmers to jealously protect their near maturity wheat crop from veld fires by taking all necessary precautions.
The agency has pledged to continue monitoring the situation, raising public awareness, and working with partners like the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and Traditional Leadership to enforce the law.
