Sand poaching rears its ugly head in Methodist Village

Rumbidzai Mhlanga

BULAWAYO- Methodist Village homes are on the verge of collapsing as a result of rampant sand poaching  which has seen the emergence of deep pits that are endangering lives of villagers and their livestock.

Over the years, the issues of deforestation and land degradation have been a big challenge for the authorities and putting it to an end is going to take quite some time and effort.

 Sand poaching is becoming a growing cause for concern as pits dug up by sand poachers have claimed  lives of a number of people especially children in and around the city.

Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights Coordinator, Mr Khumbulani Maphosa said sand poachers are causing  a lot of damage by encroaching  into homes at Methodist Village and if not reined in, will lead to the collapse of many houses in the area.

“The scale of land poaching in this area is so bad to an extent that people’s homes are on the brink of destruction as they might curve in and collapse. These daring sand poachers are causing a lot of damage in the area as they open up land, leaving deep excavated pits all over. This is a serious cause for concern in terms of the safety of the community and their livestock. 
As we speak, two houses have been seriously damaged. Community leaders revealed that when they tried to talk to the sand poachers  they were threatened with beatings and death. We are really worried as an organisation about the scale of things that are happening and we hope to engage the community leaders and find a lasting solution,”  said Maphosa.

Mr Makoni Sibanda, Committee Member of the village, told this publication that he hopes the police and rangers can step up and bring the sand poachers to book.

“We know the people who are involved in the land degradation activities and as responsible citizens, have passed on the perpetrators’ names to the police. Moreover, we showed the damage  to members of the police force who told us that they couldn’t arrest people based on ‘hearsay, without proof’ even though we thought open pits and heaps of sand were enough exhibit. We therefore hope that they will make some strides towards catching these people red-handed, following our lead to end this land degradation,” said Sibanda.    

Ward 17 Councilor, Sikhululekile Moyo says following the meeting  held last week which was a congregation of Environmental Management Authority (EMA), Bulawayo City Council Road Engineers and the police, she hopes sand poaching can soon be a thing of the past.

“The issue of sand poaching has been a problem in our community and the entire city. We have approached these perpetrators a couple of times but our pleas have consistently hit a brickwall as nothing changed even after the talks. If anything, it only got worse since more and more issues of collapsing houses have been reported.
Their poaching is putting a lot of lives at risk especially now that we are in the rainy season because they have dug deep pits that penetrate under people’s houses. These pits are also a danger to children and our livestock. We have had a couple of child deaths and lost quite a number of livestock due to these open pits all over.As community leaders we then decided it was high time we involved the city council, the police and EMA since the matter is beyond our control. During the meeting, we came up with an operation to hunt down these culprits. I can safely  say the meeting is already yielding good fruits. We are hearing reports of arrests of some sand poachers,” she said. 

Methodist Village is in ward 17 on the outskirts of the city of Bulawayo and reportedly is home to about 600 people.