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Edgar Vhera  Agriculture Specialist Writer

KAPENTA fishermen plying their trade on Lake Kariba’s Sengwa Basin 3 are dicing with death every night with suspected bands of armed Zambian men reportedly robbing them of everything in their possession ranging from rack nets to food stuffs with the latest attack happening on Monday night.

Binga Fisheries Association (BFA) secretary Mr Phillimon Mutale yesterday said some of their members had been raided by a group of armed robbers who took away both fresh and dry kapenta from their rigs while fishing at night.

“We have reported the matter to Zimbabwe National Parks Authority (ZimParks) office and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP). A group of seven men, two of them armed with guns, pounced on some boats and stole fresh and dry kapenta, rack nets, phones, fuel and food on Monday night. They carried the loot in speed boats,” Mr Mutale said.

Matabeleland North police spokesperson Inspector Glory Banda said his office had not received the report on the issue while ZimParks spokesperson Mr Tinashe Farawo said their Binga offices had received the report and urged the aggrieved parties to report the matter to ZRP.

Mr Mutale added that 12 rigs – four from Binga and eight from Kariba had been hit by the robbers.

He said in the report they made at ZRP Binga office, they had indicated that robbers stole diesel, salt, rack nets, tools, plastic papers, welding machine, phones, grocery, cooking utensils, fishing trays, fresh and dry kapenta, empty bags and clothes from the fishermen.

A fisherman who requested anonymity said although they suspected the robbers to be Zambians, it was still to be proved as the Zambian market does sell salted kapenta.

“Though the fishermen allege that the robbers are Zambians, they do not have concrete evidence to prove that. Zambians do not salt their kapenta unlike Zimbabweans. It may be that these are locals who are masquerading as Zambians. There is urgent need for a joint reaction team comprising ZRP, ZimParks and Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) to be deployed to patrol the waters,” he said.

He added that ZimParks’ mandate was restricted to conservation issues while arresting robbers is the duty of the police.

One fisheries director who spoke in confidence said they were no longer sure if law enforcement agents would be able to a stop to the robberies since they had not taken any action to do so over the years although the fishermen had been reporting cases.

“This is now the second time we have reported cases of such robberies this year. We don’t think both ZRP and ZimParks are ready to act. Fishermen are now afraid to go out to work every night because their safety is not guaranteed,” he said.

Meanwhile, an International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF) staff member Mr Bennet Vandarit Whiteman from Vanda, at the mouth of Sengwa River has arranged a meeting with fisheries to form a reaction team to protect them from these robberies.

He called on all members fishing in Sinamwenda, Chibuyu and Makuyu areas to attend a proposed meeting at Vanda on Friday 15 whose agenda will be to deliberate on ways of containing these armed robberies on the rigs.