Beneficiaries are actors too.pdf - Southern Institute of Peace ...

some trees were not supposed to be used for firewood for example
umphafa. Of note is that most of the sacred trees were generally of
very rare species which means that the taboos placed on them
were ingenious conservation techniques meant to prevent their
extinction.
The social price of conservation programmes
Implementing a CAMPFIRE programme usually involves
designating a selected area within the communal lands as a
hunting area. This is followed by a plethora of regulations which
may completely prohibit communities from undertaking certain
activities within or adjacent to the hunting area. In some
instances this results in a complete transformation of lifestyles
for the previous human inhabitants of that area resulting in
socio-cultural disruptions which may prove too costly a price to
pay for hosting a CAMPFIRE project. In Makhulela ward of
Bulilima District the San people were moved to make way for
creation of the Maitengwe hunting concession. A San settlement
was set up at the fringes of Makhulela ward and the San were
prohibited from hunting in the designated area (Madzudzo,
1996). A solar powered electric perimeter fence demarcating the
hunting area from human settlement was erected. Without
proper preparation and proper consultation the San were
transformed from nomadic hunters and gatherers to sedentary
farmers. They obviously faced enormous challenges which
included bearing the burden of livestock and crop losses to
wildlife and adjusting to a sedentary agriculture based lifestyle.
They also lacked basic requirements for a life based on
agriculture, such as draught power, farming implements and
inputs (Madzudzo, 1996).
Consequently the San community became terrible and menacing
neighbours to the safari hunting concession of Maitengwe. The
perimeter fence was cut and the solar equipment was stolen and
poaching became rampant. Also the Maitengwe safari hunting
concession became a source of inconvenience to neighbouring
livestock farmers who used the hunting area as a relief grazing
area (ukulagisa) and were now expected to follow new grazing
regimes to avoid interfering with scheduled hunts. Management
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