BY NHAU MANGIRAZI
PADENGA Holdings has donated 16 houses and two top-of-the-range vehicles to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) as part of its efforts to fight poaching activities in the Zambezi Valley.
Speaking at the handover of the 16 semi-detached three-roomed houses and two cars to Zimparks at the weekend, Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry minister Priscah Mupfumira described the gesture by Padenga Holdings as a positive move which would go a long way in curbing the poaching menace.
The 16 houses were built at Nyanyana campsite, where Zimparks employees have been living in outdated quarters built after the official opening of Kariba Dam in the early 1960s.
Due to accommodation shortages, the three-roomed houses were shared between two workers, but the new houses will see each family getting a three-roomed house that is electrified and tiled.
“The partnership between Padenga Holdings and Zimparks has seen me, as a government representative, receiving houses and two cars. I am humbled by the gesture because the responsibility of curbing poaching along the Zambezi Valley was daunting due to lack of resources. Though Zimparks has anti-poaching units around the country, it is only effective if they are well-resourced,” Mupfumira said.
Padenga Holdings chief financial officer Oliver Kamundimu said the project started last year in April.
“It is a holistic approach for accommodation … hence our commitment to help with the construction of houses to accommodate 32 families. This is part of sustainable growth path from both parties,” he said.
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Padenga Holdings, which is into crocodile farming, is one of the major employers in Kariba, with 880 permanent workers within the resort town of Kariba and a further 300 in Nyaminyami Rural District Council.
Zimparks director-general Fulton Upenyu Mangwanya said: “As Zimparks, we are committed to sustainable development of our communities and the drive to curb poaching … We assure all stakeholders that we will play our role in preserving nature and wildlife.”
