Isdore Guvamombe
The Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority is using its meagre resources to embark on a recapitalisation programme to enable it to manage the country’s natural resources better, instead of waiting for donor funding in the aftermath of the Hwange ecological disaster last year.
In an interview on Wednesday, ZimParks director-general Mr Edison Chidziya said while the corporate world, led by Mbada Diamonds, had done a lot to assist them with new off-road vehicles and other resources, the authority could not afford to fold its hands and wait for donors.
“We have very little resources in our hands and we will not wait for donors only.

“We have therefore started by acquiring seven brand new trucks from our small resources. The trucks are not heavy duty. They will enable us to monitor work being done and to collect revenue from our various work stations.

“This is just a drop in the ocean but we thought we could enter 2014 by doing something very little for ourselves.
“We know our partners in the corporate world have done a lot for us but we should also help ourselves with the little that we have.

“We began with the seven trucks that are powered by Zimoco and are not the traditional Land Cruisers or Land Rovers but we hope they are good enough, because Zimoco does not sell anything that puts its name in disrepute,’’ said Mr Chidziya.

In a separate interview, Parks chairman Mr George Pangeti said the trucks were the beginning of a lengthy recapitalisation project.
“In many cases companies fail to do well because they fail to monitor their activities and at times collect revenue due to lack of vehicles.
“These are light-duty vehicles for such activities.

“The off-road vehicles donated to us by Mbada Diamonds are operations ones and are already in the bush,’’ said Mr Pangeti.
Parks has been battling a plethora of problems, including transport woes for its rangers and day to day operations.

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