GOVERNMENT is re-modelling the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (Campfire) programme countrywide so that communities can benefit from the animal resource in their communities while making councils more accountable in the usage of revenue from hunting.
Already, Government is working on amending the Campfire to make traditional leaders legal signatories of trust funds generated through resources from the specific local communities.
Government came up with the Campfire programme in the early 1980s as a way of ensuring that communities benefit from wildlife resources in their areas.
The programme was managed through rural local authorities who after generating funds, distributed them to wards for development programmes after a needs assessment.
In some communities, schools, clinics, and roads have been built using Campfire funds.
However, there have been concerns about a lack of transparency as some communities have not been benefiting despite some hunts happening in their areas.
Government then approved proposals to re-focus and revitalise the Campfire and in the new setup, Chiefs will be signatories to the fund.
Having communities benefiting from local resources is in sync with Government’s devolution agenda.
At the moment, it is not clear how communities benefit from the Campfire programme. Funds are released to local authorities, which then decide on how the money is spent without involving communities.
However, the Ministry of Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry will soon introduce a working manual on how the Campfire projects are going to be rolled out in communities.
Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Nqobizitha Ndlovu said this yesterday after meeting with concession hunters from Tsholotsho and other stakeholders to resolve the impasse between Lodzi Hunters and Matuphula Safaris, both operating in the district.
Minister of State in the Office of Vice President and MP for Tsholotsho North, Cde Sibangumuzi Khumalo, Tsholotsho South MP Musa Ncube, Tsholotsho Rural District Council officials and local traditional leaders attended the meeting.
Between 2015 and 2016 Government had granted Lodzi Hunters a hunting license which encroached on boundaries that existed between the two hunting concessions resulting in the two camps taking each other to courts.
Minister Ndlovu said the impact of the conflict between the two hunting concessions was now affecting the operationalisation of the Campfire programme which is expected to benefit the community.
“Ultimately, it’s a programme for communities and we want to focus on that programme to say whatever happens, should benefit our communities. We have had numerous issues and it was not an easy issue to resolve this,” he said.
“This is perhaps the fifth meeting this year and the last on the issue. We have found a way forward and the two hunters will bury the hatchet as it were and start working together,”
Minister Ndlovu said the Campfire programme has to be transformed for community benefit.
He said while the project was designed to benefit communities through the proceeds from hunting, villagers were not seeing the benefit as the funds are gobbled by local authorities.
“We will soon be launching the revised Campfire manual, which clarifies the role of each key stakeholder, particularly spelling out the community benefits. We still see councils using these funds at their discretion,” said Minister Ndlovu.
“These funds are for communities and are not necessarily to run council budgets. So, we will be very strict on that issue and there has to be transparency in terms of how the funds are used.”
Minister Ndlovu said from each quota, Government will be expecting councils to give a report on the utilisation of the Campfire fund.
“We are trying to locate the community to be at the centre and core of this, and that way, we will be able to deal with issues of human animal conflict and poaching,” he said.
The minister said resolving the boundary conflict between Lodzi Hunters and Matupula Safaris should give the two companies an opportunity to attract new clients internationally, which will in turn benefit locals.
Minister Ndlovu said there are so many issues that the country is presently dealing with following the decision by CITES to ban the sale of ivory.
Minister Ndlovu said there are so many issues that the country is presently dealing with following the decision by CITES to ban the sale of ivory.
He said the problem started when there was a proposal to build Tsholotsho Stadium which was supposed to be funded through elephant trophy hunts.
“That is part of what has been the problem. We don’t want to unearth those issues they have been in the public space, there were territorial issues,” said Minister Ndlovu. – The Chronicle
