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Masvingo Bureau

Acting President Constantino Chiwenga yesterday said theGovernment will continue to bring sanity in urban areas where land barons were parcelling out land in wetlands, and warned that anyone caught on the wrong side of the law will face the music.

The Acting President called on citizens who bought land for housing development on wetlands to report the sellers to authorities so that action is taken, as Government pulls all the stops to curb the depletion of wetlands.

He was speaking at Njovo Wetland in Masvingo Central during the commemoration of the World Wetlands Day yesterday.

Acting President Chiwenga also launched the National Wetland Policy and the Wetlands Management Guidelines at the event, signifying the Government’s commitment to preserve and restore wetlands as espoused by the National Development Strategy 1, which is expected to strengthen pillars that provide a firm basis for Zimbabwe’s quest to become an upper middle income society by 2030.

Wetlands around the country have been fast depleting in the face of adverse human activities in both rural and urban areas, especially as they are being used for cropping and construction purposes.

Land barons have been parcelling out land on wetlands to desperate home-seekers, but Acting President Chiwenga said the heat was being turned on the culprits.

“I note with concern that in some areas, especially in urban areas, some people had started building illegal structures on wetlands,” he said.

“My message is that Government is committed to protect wetlands and I urge you all to immediately desist from building or doing any negative activities on wetlands.

“For those who bought land on wetlands from land barons, we need your cooperation to identify the culprits who sold the land to you. It is illegal and it cannot be allowed to continue. The culprits must be brought to book!”

Rural communities were also advised against undertaking agricultural activities on wetlands as this leads to the drying up of dams and rivers, which then defeats the fight against hunger that the Government has launched.

Acting President Chiwenga exhorted all relevant institutions to develop and implement local management plans to protect wetlands and restore the degraded ones so that rivers and dams won’t dry up.

In Zimbabwe, only about 17,6 percent of wetlands are in pristine condition, while 55 percent are moderately degraded, with 26 percent severely degraded.

Infrastructural development, agriculture, deforestation, mining activities, solid and liquid waste disposal as well as climate change, are blamed for the degradation of wetlands.

Acting President Chiwenga said Government was pursuing plans to engender sustainable wetlands management, hence the coming in of the National Wetlands Policy and the Wetlands Management Guidelines.

The wetlands policy sets out the strategic direction and guiding principles for the protection of wetlands in the country.

It also offers a forward-looking framework for the protection of wetlands as critical ecosystems.

Turning to the Njovo Integrated Wetland Conservation Initiative, the Acting President paid tribute to other partners such as the Environmental Management Agency and Aquaculture Zimbabwe for closely working with the local community for the success of the project.

The Njovo initiative boasts of a fruit trees plantation, fisheries, bee-keeping and horticultural projects that benefit more than 300 people, mainly women.

Acting President Chiwenga first toured the Njovo Integrated Wetland Conservation initiative projects before touring exhibition stands where some of the products from the project were on display.