Kariba is dead!

*HON. MACKENZIE:  Thank you Madam Speaker.  I was going to speak in Tonga but reforms have not been done and we do not have Tonga translators as yet, so I am going to speak in Shona.

*HON. MACKENZIE:  I would like to thank you for the opportunity that you have afforded me to debate the Presidential Speech.  Madam Speaker, it was an important speech which we accept and the issues mentioned are useful in the development of the country.  As regards the laws, there are a lot of laws which need to be looked into, especially those that are being used by a lot of Ministries but the majority of these laws are archaic.  They were enacted a long time ago during the colonial regime and if you look at the National Parks and Wildlife Management Act of 1977, it is still in use but it has been overtaken by time.  If you look into my constituency which is Kariba, the law is being applied extensively to oppress our people.

In Kariba there is a leisure bay which is on the shores of Lake Kariba and this is where the whites used to enjoy themselves – from Mahombekombe to Nyamhunga.  The same law still applies today and our indigenous people are not benefitting because they are not allowed to be on the shores of Lake Kariba or to even go and fish from there.  They are being charged $5 to be allowed to go and fish.  The places where the blacks are being barred from fishing, the whites go there and they fish free of charge, which I believe is not good.  There is one of the whites called Houghton in Kariba and if we look at some of the laws that are in existence, I do not know how the people who are in the kapenta fishing industry are fined because they are being forced to pay heavy fines.  If anyone is found with nets for kapenta in shallow waters; they are made to pay $2 000 to $2 500 and the majority of our people are in dire straits as they are unable to raise such fines.  Once you are caught, your boats will be confiscated by the Parks and Wildlife Management will only be released after you have paid the fine.  Thirty-seven years down the road after independence to have such laws is unacceptable Madam Speaker, because these laws are oppressive to our people.

On economic issues in Kariba, our people make a life out of fishing through kapenta and gillnet fishing.  The problem that we face currently is that if you go to the same lake, those that are in Zambia pay $400 per year for kapenta fishing and in Zimbabwe you pay $2 000 per year, which is $500 quarterly.  For the other quarter, they do not embark on any fishing but they are asked to pay the money, regardless of them not fishing in that quarter.  In Mozambique at Kabora Bassa, they pay $800 and we believe that such laws are punitive to our own indigenous people.

Those that are into gillnet fishing, they fish for tiger fish and bream.  In the same Lake Kariba on the Zambian side, they use twine nets which are also used here at Lake Chivero but if you are in Kariba on the Zimbabwean side, you are told that it is an offence to have twine nets and you are fined.  At the same time, there is not even a single company that is making the required nylon nets.  So, it is difficult for the Government to implement laws where one is supposed to use nylon nets when they are not being manufactured locally and I wonder how they expect our people to come across these nylon nets.  We want such issues to be addressed.

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