Thursday, March 28, 2024

Liuwa community face starvation

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People in Kalabo’s Liuwa area are surviving on ‘grass’ due to severe hunger that has hit the area.

Speaking on behalf of the other community members, a senior citizen Nalwalwa Simangolwa of Munde village told ZANIS that Sibeni and Munde villages ran out of food due poor rainfall experienced in the area.

Mr Simangolwa said villagers were at first feeding on fish but the waters in the lagoons have since dried up.

He lamented that the drying up of the water in ponds had left them with no option but to feed on wheat like grass traditionally known as Bucuani .

Mr. Simangolwa appealed to government under the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) to assist the area with relief before an outbreak of malnutrition.

The senior citizen, who travelled for over 60 kilometres to reach Kalabo Boma area to ask for assistance from the District Commissioner’s office, was optimistic that government would send relief to the affected areas soon.

Recently District DMMU chairperson Mwiya Inambao who is also Acting District Commissioner said 4500 by 50 kilograms of maize had been allocated for Kalabo District in the first phase and that the transporter would transport the maize into the District soon to alleviate the hunger situation.

12 COMMENTS

  1. I thought the Panga Family said we ‘ll have a bumper harvest,can you do something before people starve to death.

    • When will this country and its strategy to fight hunger will be beyond maize? How can starving people be given only maize as though maize is nutritious enough to fight malnutrition. Government (DMMU), please do buy beans, groundnuts and other food crops from farmers for redistributing to starving populations, this way you will encourage diversification of agriculture in the country.

  2. Didn’t Mugabe say among the things discussed with Lungu was 600,000 metric tonnes of maize to be sold to the Zimbabwean government? Why not provide for your citizens before you do so elsewhere? And if we had a bumper harvest,would people surely be surviving on grass? Please…

  3. Luiwa Plains is advertised internationally as a thriving place in Zambia rich with abundant wildlife. There is a movie being shown about a Lioness whom they call Lady Liuwa and this generates income to people coming to Zambia and take wildlife videos and pictures. What is Jean Kapata and Steven Mwansa doing about this because this is “Leakage” when money is being tken out of the country benefiting non Zambians. They can collect royalty fees which can go to the locals. The issue is having people in management who don’t know what they are doing. Tourists from around the world plan and talk about this lioness and book dates to see her so where does the revenue go? http://www.african-parks.org/Blog_91_Update+on+the+lion+queen+of+Liuwa+Plain+National+Park,+Zambia.html

  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG_-FU3NNgw
    This movie is being shown internationally and generating revenue in developed nations. These people have the skills and education so they come to our country and benefit because we don’t know what to do with our resources. We have the rights to this movie as it was shot in Zambia in Liuwa Plains. It is very upsetting when Jean Kapata and Steven Mwansa lift the ban on Trophy Hunting and allow tourists to prey on our magnificent wildlife for sport. Killing animals in the name of fun is not sustainable practices. This video is full proof that tourism can work and there are other ways of generating revenue through sustainable practices such as photography and shooting movies. People in this day and age are into Eco tourism and conservation.

  5. For as long as decisions are made in Lusaka, this will continue to be the case. African parks ltd (or such a name ) makes a lot of money in Liuwa & its only a few crooks in Lusaka that benefit from them & not the local people.
    DECENTRALIZE NOW.

    • African park ltd are crooks they control on deed 7% of Zambia land mass, including bengwella swamps and their hunting areas plus Liuwa plains tourism and hunting areas, and a couple parks in the northwest. If you go to their website last year they had income of $27000 total and being a NGO are not required to pay Vat, tax and get duty free imports. Parks belong to Zambians and if they want to manage and donate skills and money fine but why do they get the land.
      The tourism minister Jean Kapata also signed that off last year.

  6. You are all talking about Jean Kapata and nobody is talking about the MP. Is it because he is with the opposition? It had to take a senior citizen to travel 60 km and the MP is not aware that his people are starving? The stage of information communication to govt is not a govt issue at the moment – it is the responsibility of the representative (MP) to communicate. There is no Mugabe involved here – just hold the representative accountable.

  7. I believe we are talking about all involved. Jean Kapata’s name came because Liuwa Plains is on the map internationally as a thriving area linked to tourism. And the tourism minister is the one responsible for the management in this sector such as providing jobs for locals and local linkages with businesses. This place can bring in tourism revenue if they knew how to do it. It is a locally owed place that should be in the hands and run by Zambian’s. That is where education comes in by training people in that area in certain jobs. Tourism minister focuses on the entire country and not just her area or Lusaka and Livingston. That’s why people are having a discussion.

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