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A Ray Of Hope For Binga Traders As Tourism Re-Opens

A bus from Binga carrying some goats for sell in Victoria Falls. Image by Bokani Mudimba | The Citizen Bulletin


by Bokani Mudimba

Binga livestock traders have for long been beneficiaries of a thriving economy enabled by tourism in Victoria Falls where they would travel to sell their chickens and goats. COVID-19 halted this business—the gradual re-opening of the industry is giving them hope, but the closure period has been a time to reflect on empty promises and failed projects that have made them resort to selling their highly valued wealth.


BINGA, Septeber 9, 2020. (The Citizen Bulletin) — The recent reopening of the tourism industry activities after a more than five-month hiatus, has brought a glimpse of hope to some Binga chickens and goats traders, who used to trade in Victoria Falls before being hit by COVID-19 outbreak.

Misozi Munkuli, 52, is one of scores of women from Binga who used to sell indigenous chickens and goats to Victoria Falls residents for meat.

Chicken traders had established an open space market near Old Market, which Victoria Falls residents referred to as Chicken Inn, deriving from the fast food outlet by the same name. Their male counterparts camped near Masue River at a place called Kinshasa where they had established goat pens waiting for customers.


Business was booming prior to COVID-19, a chicken sold for between US$3 and USD$5 while goats ranged between US$15 and US$35. Munkuli would transport between 10 and 20 chickens from her home area in Sianzyundu to Victoria Falls where there was a ready market.


She would camp for between two weeks and a month in Victoria Falls before going back to Binga to get more supplies. It was a source of living for Munkuli and her family of five children before Covid-19 wiped all hope.

“I had been selling chickens in Victoria Falls since 2013. Before then, we used to depend on donors (non-governmental organisations) who would give us monthly food handouts and we could survive. However, the donor stopped coming and life became unbearable since crop farming is not viable in our dry district,” says Munkuli.

Binga communities survive on fishing as well as selling fruits and domestic animals.

“My husband was once a fisherman on the Zambezi River in Siachilaba until Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (Zimparks) started arresting people. That’s when I started selling chickens in Victoria Falls where booming tourism meant business for us. After selling chickens I was able to buy clothes and groceries to exchange with more chickens, but all this is gone,” says Munkuli.

Government has in the past promised that no citizen would starve.

In 2018 soon after assuming office, President Mnangagwa promised that “no-one will be left behind” in his vision for an upper middle-income economy by 2030. However, the promise seems like a pipedream for Binga communities.

“We still hold onto promises by the government. The Social Welfare gives monthly grain supplies but that is not enough as it only caters for the vulnerable and COVID-19 has worsened the situation."
Misozi Munkuli, 52-year-old livestock trader

The solution will be implementation of Bulawayo Kraal Irrigation Scheme,” says Chief Sikalenge of Manjolo area. The scheme which was established in 2004 intending to address food shortages in the dry region, is part of the Zambezi Green Valley (Zagreva) project and has been lying idle for the past 15 years.  

Lloyd Muzamba, 35, from Chief Sikalenge area says selling goats in Victoria Falls was a source of livelihood until the outbreak of the pandemic.

“I am actually thinking of coming back once the ban on inter-city travel is lifted. When COVID-19 came, we had to sell our goats and chickens for a song so we could go back home. I left some of my goats under the care of some people who I have to pay. I wish to go with more once they allow us to travel but the challenge is that transport fare has gone up,” says Muzamba.

Some of the goats that remained at Victoria Falls pens when goats and chicken traders were affected by COVID-19. Image by Bokani Mudimba | The Citizen Bulletin


Lusulu ward councillor Richard Sibanda says villagers are losing livestock to drought due to shortage of water and pastures.

He called for sustainable community projects for better livelihoods.

“Soon there will be no goats, chickens or cattle to sell if drought continues. Government drove out NGOs saying they didn’t want creation of a dependency syndrome and promised that no-one would starve but people are exposed to hunger. We need community gardens or Irrigation, so people stop relying on selling their livestock for a song,” says Clr Sibanda.

The Social Welfare department says about 80 percent of households in Binga are in critical need of food. Politicians have over the years been accused of using food parcels to canvas for votes without fulfilling their promises.

Matabeleland North Minister of State and Devolution Richard Moyo says the government has not reneged on its promises.

“If you look at recent activities you would agree with me that the government is committed to the development of Matabeleland. The President was in Victoria Falls recently to launch the Tourism Recovery Strategy and after also commissioning some coal mines in Hwange while Vice President Constantino Chiwenga was at Bulawayo Kraal in Binga recently. All this shows commitment.

“People are getting food through Social Welfare and other partners. Government will not let anyone die of hunger, that’s the vision which will be cumulatively achieved by 2030,” says Minister Moyo.

Triumph Africa is one of the humanitarian organisations that have been camped in Binga distributing food parcels to help alleviate hunger.


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