People displaced by dam [Kariba] seek compensation

Source: The Chronicle

Date: 18 November 2005

Author: Paul Nkala

When the giant Lake Kariba was built in the 1950s, authorities at the time celebrated its construction as one of the most sterling feats of engineering and human endeavour.

The lake, whose construction was completed in 1958, provides hydro-electricity to Zimbabwe and Zambia and influenced the springing up of bustling commercial, fishing and tourism activity in Kariba town and on its shoreline thereby generating significant revenue and employment to the country.

However, 47 years down the line thousands of people who were displaced on the Zimbabwean and Zambian banks of the Zambezi River to make way for the colossal water reservoir feel that they are entitled to compensation.

The people and their descendants contend that very little effort has been made to ensure that they have decent lives after they were relocated.

The communities in both Zimbabwe and Zambia say that the Lake Kariba project left a legacy of poverty among them as they do not directly benefit from dam-related industries and to date no reparations have been made.

To address their problems and quest for compensation, the People of the Great River, popularly known as Basilwizi, have mobilised themselves to form an organisation — the Basilwizi Trust.

The programme director, Mr Sani Boniface Mutale, said the trust is a non-profit making advocacy and community development organisation.

“The organisation operates in four districts of Binga, Hwange, Nyaminyami and Gokwe North in the Zambezi Valley region where the displaced people continue to live,” he said.

The Zimbabwean side of the Zambezi River Valley is home to around 5 000 Korekore and more than 500 000 Tonga speaking people.

Between 1954 and 1962 the entire population was removed from the Zambezi River shores to make way for the Kariba hydro-electric scheme and the lake.

The rising waters of the lake flooded the river basin where these people had lived, farmed throughout the year and fished for centuries.

The areas where they were forcibly relocated to are generally infertile, underdeveloped and incapable of sustaining any form of livelihood, says Mr Mutale.

He bemoaned the fact that some of the relocated people, especially those in Gokwe North in the Midlands, were likely to lose their identities as they are slowly being absorbed into the communities where they are now settled, resulting in their culture being diluted.

Speaking at the launch of the Basilwizi Research Report recently, delegates called on the World Bank, the major financier of the construction of the dam, to compensate the people who were forcibly moved.

The release of the report followed a study which was undertaken to look into the socio-economic impact of Lake Kariba on the Tonga and Korekore people in Binga.

Mrs Dorothy Mushayavanhu, a lecturer in the Department of Public Law at the University of Zimbabwe, said the World Bank and the British government should pay compensation to the displaced communities.

She said there was a need for the authorities and all concerned stakeholders to join the organisation in lobbying the World Bank and the UK government to honour their obligations.

She added that the claim for compensation was based on the displacement of the Tonga people, which was involuntary and resulted in many human rights violations.

She noted that the forcible displacements were increment-al and the communities were discriminated against, marginalised and impoverished.

Lake Kariba, which was constructed by Italian experts, covers 282 square kilometres of the Zambezi Valley and is the continent’s third largest dam after Aswan in Egypt and Cahora Bassa in Mozambique.

The Queen Mother of Britain officially opened the lake about a year after its construction.

Over the years, Lake Kariba has grown into one of the country’s most popular holiday resorts with an airport, harbour, lakeside hotels and lodges, huge houseboats, marinas, water-sports and fishing.

It is also a commercial fishing centre with the crane-like kapenta rigs illuminating the nighttime waters of the lake. In addition, the dam attracts vast quantities of game, both big and small.

However, Chief Sinazongwe, from Zambia, who also attended the launch, pointed out that the subject of Lake Kariba is very pertinent and still lingers on in the minds of the affected people.

“The results of the research are very credible because they reflect the realistic nature of the impact on the people. There seems to have been no-one who inherited the woes from the socio-economic problems emanating from the Zambia side not knowing from the Zimbabwean side,” he said.

He added that when he crossed from Zambia there were no visible marks or indications on any pipelines taking water from the Zambezi River to the displaced people as per the promises that were made when the lake was built.

The chief bemoaned the fact that upon their displacement thousands of people were resettled in unfamiliar locations, which exposed them to cultural dilution, thereby affecting the quality of their cultures.

The trust says it is committed to the social and economic development of the displaced peoples of the Zambezi Valley.

It is working towards empowering communities through advocacy and by building skills for self-sustenance.

The organisation assists communities to identify and implement development projects that meet their basic material needs. It also plays a facilitatory role by providing skills training, technical and management advice and administrative and logistical support.

It further notes that the people of the Zambezi Valley rank among some of the most vulnerable populations in the country.