Source: Timber plantation occupiers face eviction | Sunday Mail (Business)
Martin Kadzere
WITH the occupation of prime commercial timber plantations in Zimbabwe’s eastern highlands by some illegal settlers and gold panners escalating, eviction orders may soon be issued out to the invaders to restore normalcy, a Cabinet Minister has warned.
In recent years, settlers seeking land for farming and artisanal gold miners have invaded vast swathes of commercial timber forests with more than 20 000 hectares now expected to be under occupation, according to the timber industry.
The most affected companies are state-owned Allied Timbers Zimbabwe (ATZ) and Border Timbers in Chimanimani.
The Wattle Company, another major timber company is also affected, but on a smaller scale.
The settlers are now targeting recently harvested areas ready for replanting.
In the past years, there had been a huge mismatch between planting and harvesting, a development industry players fear might see the country running out of mature trees in the future. Pine trees normally take between 20 and 25 years to mature.
“It’s a serious cause for concern,” Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Mangaliso Ndlovu, told The Sunday Mail Business in an interview. “Some of the plantations are protected by the laws and settling or engaging in any other activities is illegal.”
Minister Ndlovu said Government was stepping up efforts to restore normalcy in the affected areas. “This will involve my superiors and I will continue to get guidance from them.”
He blamed “some senior politicians,”- seeking mileage ahead of next year’s general elections–for allowing the settlers to occupy commercial timber plantations.
“Observing the law is critical and I am confident we will prevail,” said Minister Ndlovu.
While timber companies were incurring economic losses through illegal settling, it is also affecting forest management practices–from planting and harvesting to fire protection.
Mr Darlington Duwa, chief executive of Timber Producers Federation, which represents local plantation companies, said an estimated 20 000 hectares are under occupation.
Last year, about 1 000 ha of “young plantations” were destroyed by fire and can’t be “salvaged.”
“As much as everybody is aware we still face this problem,” Mr Duwa said in an interview.
“Even the President (Mnangagwa) gave a directive last year to have the issue resolved but there is no traction. The fires are destroying plantations and sometimes is very bad.”
President Mnangagwa is expected to commission Allied Timber’s US$12 million sawmill at the Cashel Estate on the sprawling Chimanimani mountain range in the next two months.
The settlers have no permits but insist they were legally settled. Some claim to be rightful owners of “our ancestral land” while others have accused timber companies to have encroached into their communal lands.
“The land belongs to us and we are reclaiming what belongs to us,” Mr Serbia Sawara, an illegal settler said.
“We were not leaving.”
Another illegal settler, Mr Jacob Tinarwo accused timber companies of manipulating the boundaries demarcating estates and communal lands “by encroaching into our lands.”
Allied Timbers, the country’s largest timber company said as much as 50 percent of its unplanted land was under occupation by illegal settlers, posing the biggest risk to the sustainability of the business.
Chief executive Mr Remigio Nenzou told the company’s annual general meeting recently in Harare that out of the 25 000 ha ready to be planted, 13 000 ha were under occupation by thousands of illegal settlers.
Allied chairman Mr Itai Ndudzo, told the same meeting the company had suffered “massive losses” as the illegal settlers were causing fires destroying “our resource.”
“Our biggest challenge remains illegal settlements on the land we are leasing from the Forestry Commission for which we are paying hectare-based rentals on an annual basis,” said Mr Ndudzo. “It is sad to note that 13 000 ha of land has been taken over by illegal settlers. What is even more worrying in the areas where we have illegal settlers; we have the biggest outbreaks of fires. We have suffered significant losses in 2020.
“More than 2000 of out planted compartments were burnt down by fires related to illegal settlers.
“To put matters into perspective, we harvested less than 2 000 ha and we were able to 1999 ha.
“So what we lost through fires caused by illegal settlers is bigger than what we were able to plant, and is bigger than what we were able to harvest.
“The biggest loss, the biggest risk the business has suffered has been occasioned by fires and those fires are related to illegal settlements. So the sustainability of the business is only guaranteed if measures are put in place to guard against the illegal settlements.”
Zimbabwe’s timber employs about 10 000 people, Mr Duwa said, with 6 000 of them directly.