By Staff Reporter
AS hunger reaches dire levels, villagers in Matebeleland South, Mangwe district have turned to smuggling essential goods from the neighbouring country Botswana in a desperate bid for survival.
Mangwe district is one of the areas which have been hit the hardest by the El Nino induced drought currently faced by Zimbabwe and other Southern African countries.
The district last received rainfall on 14 December 2023 and there have been no harvests at all.
Speaking in an interview with Bustop TV, after a World Food Program food distribution in the district, Madabe village head Joseph Nleya (pictured) expressed concern over villagers now turning to illegal activities for survival.
“Some members from our community used to employ others to work in their field however this year it is impossible as there is nothing in the fields and no one is able to employ the other.
“So most of the youths are now surviving on smuggling essential goods from Botswana and selling them this side and most families are relying on that,”Nleya said.
Nleya also expressed worry over shortage of water and food for their livestock.
“We do not have water, we do not have pastures for our livestock. We last received rainfall mid December and it has never rained since then.
“We do not know what is going to happen to us.
“The drought we are facing this year is too much, in previous years we used to get small harvests that could take us for a few months but this year we totally got nothing at all,” Nleya said.
According to the World Food Program, about 50 million people in southern and some parts of central Africa are facing food insecurity due to the El Nino weather phenomenon induced drought.
El Niño is a cyclical weather phenomenon characterized by elevated sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, exerts global weather effects, notably contributing to reduced rainfall in southern Africa.
Scientists suggest that the intensification of El Niños and their associated impacts may be exacerbated by climate change.
