HOW RURAL PEOPLE IN SOUTHERN
AFRICA
TAKE CONTROL
Examples
of community-based management of natural resources
in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia and Botswana
BACKGROUND-STORY
by Dadirayi Chigoya, Radio Bridge Overseas, Harare -
Zimbabwe
"What is entailed here is that
the local communities are not doing this conservation for
nothing," says Roy Sichilaba,
Chairman of the Mumbwa Game Management Authority in
Zambia. "They are conserving
wildlife with a view to getting direct benefits from the
utilisation of wildlife resources in their various game
management areas. There has been maximum appreciation for
this new arrangement because, you see, benefits are
actually accruing and people are seeing what is supposed
to be of benefit. We are talking about grinding mills
having been made available to the people. We are talking
of schools being built from this same arrangement. We are
talking of many more other facilities being made
available because of the same arrangement."
The
"arrangement" Sichilaba refers to is based on a
new understanding in more and more African countries that
smooth going for its majority of people living in rural
areas must be based on opportunities to manage their
natural resources in a way that benefits them. Thorns
grew along the way of the rural people in Africa not only
during colonial rule, but even after the advent of
independence. Central powers took control over game parks
and lakes, forests and grasslands. Millions of rural
dwellers remained cut off from the only resource which
could provide a livelihood.
Dadirayi Chigoya
talking to Chief Chibuluma |
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I was involved in the production
of a regional radio programme about the struggles of
grassroot people in Zambia, Namibia, Botswana and
Zimbabwe. I learned about their successes, failures and
endeavours as they tried to earn a living from natural
resources in their areas, to get control over the land
they live on. These people are involved in a programme
called the Community Based Natural Resources Management,
CBNRM.
During colonial rule in my country, Zimbabwe, people of
the Shangani tribe were moved from their lands which the
colonialists turned into game reserves. After being
resettled, they went back to the game reserves to hunt as
hunting had always been their way of life, but now even
the language had changed: "hunting" became
"poaching" and the people had to fight.
"It was extremely bad. Infact we
were at war with the Department of National Parks and
Wildlife," Lyson Masango, a
villager at Mahenye in Eastern Zimbabwe recalls his
experience with the colonialists. "People
from the Department of Wildlife would come at night with
guns and raid homes, searching for the poachers. They
used to torture and beat people in order to force them to
reveal who the poachers were."
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"LIVING IDEAS" - PART 1
LISTEN -
26'31" |
After all, the colonisers thought they had come
to civilise and develop the Africans. But Africans had
their ways of conservation, although they were not
documented and the term "conservation" even did
not exist. They did it in order to survive. For example,
in my culture, sacred and other protected animals were
used for family or clan names. The family did not kill or
eat meat from such animals. This was a simple method of
allocation of animals to the community as each clan would
hunt for a different type of animal.
Ulekai Takadu, a game warden at Maun in Botswana told me
of his experience when he was addressing a community
meeting one day. He said a man stood up to complain that
the Department of National Parks and Wildlife had not
paid any heed to traditional hunting methods.
"We used to hunt only male
buffaloes, this man said, because we knew that if we
reduce the number of males then we reduce the infighting
for female buffaloes. With the few bulls remaining, they
could do well with the females and then the population
would increase."
As land and game was in the hands of central
authorities even after independence, poaching remained,
and in some areas even increased. There had to be changes
if wildlife was not only to survive but was to become a
sustainable source of income.
People in Botswana started to raise their concern about
the fact that their areas were rich in wildlife resources
which attracted tourists yet they did not benefit from
it. At the same time, it was them who suffered when the
animals came to raid their fields and homes, sometimes
killing people. They sought the support of conservancy
organisations who helped to lobby policy makers to make
the necessary amendments in the laws that affected
wildlife, and they succeeded.
Now the communities have the right to look for business
partners of their choice by putting out tenders. One of
the communities that are benefitting from the changes in
the laws is to be found in Sankuyu, Botswana. I met their
leader, Baidi Gozana, who was happy with the way things
were working out. The community of Sankuyu had, for the
first time, the right to negotiate on its own a contract
with a safari operator to hunt game in their area. The
community receives 50% of the meat that the safari
operator gets as well as a fee for the duration of the
contract, amounting to the equivalent of US$87,000 .
In Zimbabwe, the Shangani at Mahenye now have a
contract with a South African hotel chain. The hotel
chain built a sophisticated lodge close to the land from
which the people were removed to make space for one of
the largest National Parks in the country. It is the
first time that a community was allowed to negotiate such
a contract which gets them a share of what tourists pay.
But Ivine Bond, who works for the Zimbabwe based
Communal Areas Management Programme For Indigenous
Resources, CAMPFIRE says, "These
people are not managing their wildlife yet. These people
are managing benefits which are passed on to them by the
district council. So until people are actively
participating in wildlife management, it will still be
something out of their control."
The Shangani receive a share from the profit made by the
hotel chain, but they were not involved in the design and
they are not participating in the management, they are
not the owners of the project. For communities to feel
that they own something, that they are participating
meaningfully, governments have to give more control to
them.
Maxi Louis works with NACOBTA, the Namibia
Community Based Tourism Association. She thinks people in
Namibia had an advantage. "Because
Namibia was the last country to get its independence
within the African continent, I think we also learnt a
lot from what was happening in the other countries, and I
think, we have taken another direction. We decided to
address communities first and we have them looking after
their own natural resources."
Communities in Namibia have built their own
campsites. I was fortunate to meet one person who was
instrumental in setting up such an enterprise in Purros,
Northern Namibia. His name is Peter Uraavi.
"I worked for a safari
operator," he explained, "then
I went back to the community and asked if I could start a
campsite. I tried to look for a way that it would create
jobs in the area. The community agreed, Then I went to
NGO's and asked for assistance. They gave me material
worth 13,000 N$."
The campsite is flourishing and local people are employed
there. As for the monetary benefits, 45% of the income
goes to the workers, 10% to the community, 25% to the
campsite and the remainder to pay back the loan. Compared
with the luxurious retreat for tourists in Mahenye,
Zimbabwe, this community-based enterprise in Northern
Namibia may range at the low end of income. I doubt
whether they will ever earn that much as the South
African hotel chain which can allow itself to give away
US$25,000 a year as benefit to the Mahenye-community.
However, the people involved earn not only a living but
they are in control, and with that sense of
responsibility comes a new understanding of the
importance to conserve the environment they benefit from.
Chief Chibuluma from Mumbwa district in Zambia is
one wise leader of a successful project. He said he
realised that his community had the important duty to
guard against poachers alongside the wardens and game
rangers.
"So as a community, we now work
hand in hand with the Department of Wildlife," he
said, "because we know that if we do not stop the
poachers, it means shortly we are not going to have
animals."
In Namibia, former poachers are now even employed as game
scouts.
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"LIVING IDEAS" - PART 2
LISTEN -
26'45" |
From all that I saw during my visits in four
countries of Southern Africa, it appears that mostly men
were involved in the new drive to manage natural
resources on community level. I have always known that,
in my culture, females are brought up in a way that they
should not challenge males in their roles, but I had
never thought this would extend to expressing one's view.
"To be frank, if somebody
suggested to me that my wife becomes a member of the
committee," one man said in
Mahenye, Zimbabwe, "I would not
like it because when she has to attend workshops for
instance, I start to suspect that she might be seeing
other men. That is the attitude most of us here
have."
Chief Chibuluma in Zambia selected only one woman to be a
member of the project committee by virtue of her being a
teacher. His son, Dennis, told me, her role is to inform
her pupils about the developments in their area so that
the children inform their parents. She seems to be just a
tool for communication and nothing else. It was not
surprising that the womens' club which used to exist in
the area is now defunct.
Ironically, in the neighbouring Botswana, a lot
of women had direct roles in the projects. At Kavimba, in
the Chobe enclave of Botswana, Claudia Ntshunga, is the
Programme Officer for the Chobe Enclave Conservation
Trust, CECT. When I visited the area, she was
understudying the Community Development Advisor. I asked
her how it felt to be an African woman leading African
men and she told me that it was difficult at first as
most men did not support her. So what did she do?
"I did not waste my time trying
to explain that I could do the job. I just proved it
through my work and they were convinced."
Claudia got her job because of her educational
background. But she has managed to convince the chiefs
and other traditional leaders that women are equally good
in this work, the community now realises the potential of
women. They now hold meetings where they select women to
be trained so that they can actively participate in the
project as well as in decision making. This major
breakthrough in Botswana means the women also receive a
fair share from the benefits that the community earns.
The only other thing that such a community may
worry about is whether they receive what they deserve, be
it from a safari operator or any other joint venture.
Most of the traditional leaders in Africa are illiterate.
They base their decisions on what their forefathers
always did. This has always worked in cases like
allocating land to their subjects and other domestic
issues. But when it comes to dealing with monetary
benefits in modern economy, a lot of figures are
involved. Then it requires a way to monitor the benefits,
otherwise it would be easy to cheat communities. In
Zimbabwe, I was disturbed to find out that Chief Mahenye
did not even know how much his community was entitled to.
But the wise old man in Zambia, Chief Chibuluma, found a
solution.
"Now we get a copy from the
computer," he said, "so
we really can know this is the actual figure, even before
we receive the money."
It is even better if these communities know how
to do their own calculations and keep their own books of
accounts. Campsite operators in Namibia realised this
need and have started to organise training through their
mother body, NACOBTA. They are learning how to run their
campsites through visiting other enterprises in their
country where they receive hands on training for two
weeks each.
While governments have granted some control over
wildlife to rural communities, it has taken some time for
these communities to assume this position. Hence, in some
cases, wildlife elites rather than groups of people have
been empowered. As a result, accountability has been lost
as the elites are no longer answerable to the larger
community. But in Guruve, in Zimbabwe, there has been an
awakening.
"A few members of the community
came together and formed what they called a resistance
committee or pressure group, monitoring the
committee," Lilian Dimbi said, "so
that, if there are some problems, if there is no
accountability, they would then demand it from the
committee. So, in a way, it has put pressure on them to
be accountable."
It is true, some communities now have control
over their natural resources. Those who don't still have
to learn to make the necessary adjustments to their way
of life in order to develop along with others.
The radio programme that my organisation produced was
aimed at bridging people with the same objectives in the
four countries. After having selected and edited all
material and having put it on air in four different
language versions, we still had one more task to
accomplish. We had to evaluate the impact of the
programme. So we went back to all involved communities in
Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia, and the results
were impressive. The communities had realised how
important it was to learn from each other.
"We should visit each
country," Chief Chibuluma said
after listening to the radio serial, "so
that we can exchange views and see where we are failing.
We can copy from others and improve ourselves."
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Dadirayi Chigoya recording a song
of the community in Kavimba, Botswana |
THE RBO PRODUCTION TEAM:
Research & Interviews:
Sam Ngoma (Zambia & Zimbabwe)
Eddington Mhonda (Botswana)
Nick Perkins (Namibia)
Script:
Morris Nyakudya & Dumisani Gumpo
Evaluation & Post-recordings:
Dadirayi Chigoya
Presenter:
Brenda Moyo
Administration:
Jennifer Chiriga
Managing Editor & Director:
Klaus Juergen Schmidt
Zimbabwean Interns attached to this RBO-project:
Gershom Nyathi, Phinius Mushoriwa
German Interns attached to this RBO-project:
Christiane Cichy, Udo Taubitz, Boris Kunert
Alexandra von Stauss, Jonny Rieder
Holger Bock, Olaf Krems
Episodes of this serial are also available in Shona,
Bemba and Setswana.
Check RBO's special programming "VERNACULAR
LANGUAGES IN AFRICA"
UPDATES
& RECOMMENDED READING
You
can go back to the introduction page by hitting the
button above. If you click on one of the four maps to be
found there you will be connected to websites of
organisations involved in community-based management of
natural resources in each of those countries. But we
offer also a couple of new developments with regard to
projects mentioned in our program which have been
observed since the last visit of the RBO-crew to these
four countries. The links below will connect you to some
interesting follow-ups and essential reading.
"THE ZIMBABWE
INDEPENDENT" / Zimbabwe / 08.05.1998
Nearly
771 families in Mahenye Village of Zimbabwe recently
received more than $340,000 cash, their share of $588,594
raised through the Zimbabwe Sun Hotel Group sponsored
community project at Mahenye in the lower Save area of
Chipinge.
"THE
NAMIBIAN" / Namibia / 14.11.1997
The
Bukalo tribal authority has accused Caprivi Regional
Governor John Mabuku of jeopardising a million dollar
conservancy project, which has the potential to
economically empower up to 10 000 people.
"THE
POST" / Zambia / 07.08.1997
Zambia
maintains ban on elephant hunting
SADC
REFERENCE CENTRE
SADC's
emphasis on the need to integrate biological wildlife
conservation with development of the rural communities
who incur the bulk of conservation costs has been heeded.
The Sector is renown for its various community based
natural resource management programmes.
The
CAMPFIRE Wildlife and Development Series / Zimbabwe
Essential
Reading
The
United Nations Research Institute for Social Development
(UNRISD)
Management
of Wildlife, Tourism and Local Communities in Zimbabwe
Discussion Paper No. 53, August 1994 / Chris McIvor
MAIL COMMENTS & GET
MORE INFO
"LIVING
IDEAS" THE THEME SONG
©
1998 RADIO BRIDGE OVERSEAS TRUST
composed & performed by:
VITALIS MAKALALWA (ZIMBABWE)
Listen
to the Theme Song
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