Govt plans campaign on crocodile attacks
RUNDU - Communities living along the Kavango River will soon be introduced to an awareness campaign focusing on crocodile habitat, territory and hunting strategies following the continuous attacks by crocodiles on humans in the Kavango East and West regions.
This was said by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism spokesperson Romeo Muyunda in a recent interview with Nampa, amidst a search by the Kavango East police for the body of a 13-year-old boy who was attacked by a crocodile over the Easter weekend on Saturday at Mupapama village.
The attack brought to seven the number of such cases since January this year.
Muyunda said the campaign set to commence in April or May this year, will particularly educate the communities on the usage of the river while engaging relevant authorities on permanent solutions for the provision of water as it is a resource that is taking the people to the river.
“The ministry is concerned about the frequency in which these incidences are happening and it could be that the messages we have been putting across through the various media platforms are not getting through to the intended communities,” he said.
Last month, ombudsman Basilius Dyakugha blasted the government for concentrating on “theory conservation” and prioritising tourism ahead of local people’s lives while not implementing concrete measures to mitigate human-wildlife conflict in the Bwabwata National Park as well as along the Kavango River in general.
He said the line ministry should do more to protect human lives.
Dyakugha said the human population is increasing and that it is a big challenge that people and animals are competing for natural resources.
Thus, the environment ministry should stop concentrating on paper or theory conservation because they are ignoring the needs of human beings who live in those areas.
Mukwe councillor and chairperson of the Kavango East regional council Damian Maghambayi suggested that there should be a response unit in both Kavango regions, saying the ministry lacks human resources as at times, there is no one on standby or the ministry’s officials take long when responding to such incidences.
He also said the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform should work together with the regional councils to provide physical water infrastructure in order to address and minimise the issue of crocodile attacks on humans.