FMD paralyses cattle industry in Matsiloje
Chakalisa Dube | Thursday March 24, 2016 11:47
The entry of illegal immigrants into the country through ungazetted points near Matsiloje have been linked to the spread of FMD, more so that there is little control of the disease in Zimbabwe.
Member of Parliament (MP) for Tati East, Samson Moyo Guma said this week that it is difficult to deal with the issue of illegal immigrants.
“We need collaborative effort from both the government of Zimbabwe and Botswana if we are to address the problems brought by illegal immigrants,” he told Mmegi.
Despite the notable efforts by the government to address the issue of illegal immigrants, it also recently emerged during a recent kgotla meeting addressed by the Vice President (VP), Mokgweetsi Masisi, that illegal immigrants are still tormenting the residents of Matsiloje and nearby villages.
Matsiloje Village Development Committee (VDC) chairperson and farmer, Joel Mpetsane said that there is a greater influx of illegal immigrants in the village and its surroundings.
He told the VP that the situation is worsened by the fact that the ratio of illegal immigrants and law enforcement officers is not balanced.
According to him, the number of law enforcement officer is drastically low.
However, the police and wildlife officials said that they are not aware there is not enough manpower to address the influx of illegal immigrants and wild animals respectively.
Both conceded that they have challenges dealing with illegal immigrants and wild animals, but are doing their best.
To address the concerns of farmers, Masisi said government would urgently engage in consultations with other stakeholders.
He said government will try to work with their Zimbabwean counterparts to address the issue of illegal immigrants.
He stated that if there were a need to increase manpower at the border fence government would do so.
“Residents of Matsolje also have to actively participate in the fight against illegal immigrants,” he said.
He added that residents should collaborate with law enforcement officers to fight the influx linked to migration of FMD and other diseases.
“The police alone cannot win the fight against illegal immigrants,” he said.
Matsiloje Farmers Committee (MFC) chairperson, Simon Lephalo remained optimistic that the government would address the situation of Zimbabweans who cross into the country using ungazetted points.
“The Vice President was here recently and promised to address our concerns regarding illegal immigrants because this time around our concerns were more amplified than before. We are fearful that if the issue is not well managed it may lead to another FMD outbreak.
“Another outbreak will shatter our farming dreams because the government restocked our cattle as well as small stock less than a year ago.
We are in the process of recovery,” said Lephalo, who is also the former area councillor.
He said that farmers in the area would continue to engage with government officials to see how the situation of illegal immigrants can be best managed.
The first FMD outbreak occurred early in 2002 while the second one took place in 2003 and then more cases were recorded. The latter one was the most catastrophic as government, despite the disapproval of many farmers, had to cull nearly 12,000 cattle with compensation.
In addition, government culled a combined 16,000 goats and sheep in order to suppress the pandemic. The exercise cost government more than P90 million, according to various media reports.