Boundary dispute mars park fence project

Misunderstandings have emerged between the Department of National Parks and Wildlife and communities in Traditional Authority Chulu in Kasungu over Kasungu National Park boundary with villagers claiming the department wants to grab their farmland.

The dispute has since halted construction of a perimeter wire fance on the eastern side of the park to protect surrounding communities from elephants which destroy crops in the area.

However, a meeting summoned by the department on Friday involving traditional leaders from the concerned communities with Kasungu District Council officials and other stakeholders failed to break the deadlock as the traditional leaders demanded more time before allowing officials to visit the area to authenticate their claims.

Group village head (GVH) Kapatuka, accompanied by eight other GVHs from the area, told the meeting that park authorities want to create a new boundary that would see at least 2 000 households lose their farmland.

He said: “We are not against construction of the fence. We want the fence as soon as possible because every day we are battling elephants that stray out of the park.

“What we want is that the fence should pass through the designated boundary so that we don’t lose our land.”

But Kasungu National Park manager Ndaona Kumanga dismissed the claims of new boundary demarcations.

He said communities in the area have for a long time been cultivating in the land gazetted as national park.

“We are trying our best to have this problem solved once and for all, but our efforts are being halted by communities’ resistance,” he said.

Kasungu district commissioner James Kanyangalazi said he has always worked to resolve the issue, but communities have not been cooperative.

Since 2019, at least 2 783 reports of elephants strays from Kasungu National Park were reported