CHINHOYI – PEOPLE are not afraid to break environmental laws because in most cases what
they benefit outweighs what they will lose.
The Environmental Management Agency and Forestry Commission have authority in theory, but
practically they yield very limited power, the efforts they put to enhance environmental
protection are insignificant as evidenced by law breakers walking away scot-free in most cases.
Tatenda Chirasha, a resident, said in cases of cutting down trees people were not afraid of doing
so if they were selling the firewood or were in any form of business.
The police fine is just too little, which a person will pay without any remorse and once paid,
they can go back and continue cutting down trees because there is more money than the fine they
would have paid.
Chinhoyi Residents Association Chairperson, Clifford Hlupeko, said: The genesis of climate
issues begins from littering, cutting down trees and all these things will put us in trouble years to
come.
He called for immediate response to environmental issues otherwise human would be heading
towards extinction.
The court delays are tantamount to acceleration of environmental degradation and extinction of
humanity as a result of catastrophic climate changes that are actually taking place at a faster rate.
The idea of stiffer penalties has got to apply to enable us to move a gear up, he said.
Liberty Chitiyo, Zimbabwe National Organization of Associations and Residents’ Trust
(ZONART) chairperson for Mashonaland West said: "We are just hoping that the new EMA Bill
will capture urban and rural residents’ outcry and input for there to be a stand-alone
environmental court in order to expedite the court cases and final decisions.
He explained that delays in court cases were largely a result of lack of stand-alone environmental
courts not deficiency of the environmental laws because the EMA Act in itself is a very good
law, theoretically.
Although punishment to law-breakers should be stiffer, our Constitution and Acts just need
implementation and application to the book.
It is the duty of Government to make environmental courts see the light of day because the
Constitution on Section 73, Environmental Rights is very clear that the State must take
reasonable legislative and other measures, within the limits of the resources available to it, to
achieve the progressive realisation of the rights set out in this section."
The Dean of the School of Hospitality and Tourism at Chinhoyi University of Technology CUT),
Dr Nelson Zengeni, said there should be separate environmental courts that deal with
environmental issues separately from criminal laws and other issues just like anti-corruption
courts and electoral laws.
We feel like environmental law-breakers are not being punished enough. The punishment is too
lenient that is why they still start veld fires. Environmental Management Agency is an
empowered authority. It is going to be easy to implement stiffer penalties.
When it becomes an authority it will be able to arrest not going through the police, take people
to its court, then I think we will have done away with the delays that we find at the courts
because of lot of cases they have to deal with.”
Tawanda Kaseke, Environmental Consultant for Mashonaland West Province said that EMA and
other natural resources authorities needed to be empowered enough to make an impact. These
organisations were understaffed and needed more resources for them to be effective.
He added that the court could not be fast enough at times because it was difficult to gather
enough evidence of the environmental damage done.
He was critical of EMA, charging that they were concentrating on prosecuting locals mostly,
while foreigners, who causing more harm were untouchable.
Stiffer penalties are difficult to implement when there is selective application of the law. For
example, EMA has been known to be strict on local black organisations but turns a blind eye on
most Chinese companies,said Kaseke.
