ELLEN MLAMBO
BEITBRIDGE – Beitbridge East MP, Albert Nguluvhe is alarmed by the destruction of forests in and around Beitbridge Border Town and has appealed to traditional leaders to impose stiffer penalties on villagers selling firewood.
He said that each time he visits Dumba Road at 6pm he sees up to 15 scotch carts loaded with firewood going into Beitbridge Town. The firewood is sold to businessmen in the border town.
He said the whole chain of suppliers of firewood must be punished but it was important for chiefs to play their part since they are dealing with the problem at the source.
Nguluvhe said this when he recently addressed a tree planting occasion at Chamnanga Secondary School and attended the Nyaradzo Group Annual Walkathon.
Selling firewood is big business in Beitbridge.
“We should not just blame businesspeople who buy firewood in town. I must take the challenge to traditional leaders. We should trace this problem to its root and this is where traditional leaders are allowing villagers to cut down trees? My appeal to the traditional leaders is to impose stiff penalties to perpetrators before our land turns into a desert,” he said.
“When we grew up, there are certain trees that we were not allowed to cut down because of a number of reasons; they provided fruits, they are medicinal or they take time to grow. Today the cutting down of trees is random without any regard for such factors,” he added.
Nguluvhe said trees and forests are critical in reducing effects of climate change.