Zimbabwe tourism rebound exceeds expectations

 VICTORIA FALLS, (CAJ News) – TOURISM executives are confident the sector is on right course to bounce back to levels experienced before COVID-19 when close to 1000 passengers landed at the Victoria Falls Airport daily on average.

Victoria Falls is Zimbabwe’s prime destination and conference capital, boasting of visitors from across the globe.

The local giant airport was upgraded to handle wide bodied aircraft and more than 1,5 million passengers per annum before the global pandemic struck.

Barbara Murasiranwa, Tourism Business Council of Zimbabwe Matabeleland North representative, said 2022 had been positive.

“Arrivals this year have been exciting for the industry,” she said.

Murasiranwa said more airlines were making their way back to Victoria Falls, bringing hope for the tourism sector.

“We used to receive about 900 passengers per day from all the airlines before this fell to about 100 during lockdown. We are building up back to where we used to be before and that’s exciting,” she said.

“The industry is actually picking up at a rate that we did not expect which proves that tourism is a low hanging fruit,” the official said.

“We never thought we would be at this stage with our tourist arrivals. We thought it would take three years to recover. Within this year, we should be back to our 2019 figures,” she forecast.

Government set a target of a US$5 billion tourism industry by 2025 leveraging on meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions among other initiatives.

Murasiranwa believes this is achievable judging by the positive growth.

Tsika Mberi, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority Matabeleland North regional manager, believes the lifting of travel restrictions reignited the desire to travel.

Arrivals in Zimbabwe are projected to trend around 2,3 million by the end of this year.

In 2019, there were 2,29 million arrivals.

Arrivals dropped drastically in 2020 because of COVID-19 as the country received 639 000 tourists.

Speaking in Victoria Falls recently, Vice President Costantino Chiwenga, said medical tourism will soon be the resort city’s drawcard and plans are underway to upgrade health infrastructure to match destination status.

Chiwenga is also the Minister of Health and Childcare.

Source: Zimbabwe tourism rebound exceeds expectations (31/08/22)

Dogfight over Victoria Falls

 VICTORIA Falls, Zimbabwe’s top tourism drawcard and world spectacle, is at the centre of a legal dispute pitting environmentalists and two firms planning to build on restricted zones marked by Unesco as world heritage sites.

The UN body bestowed the World Heritage Site status on the Victoria Falls in 1989. It is considered as the largest waterfall in the world running down 108 metres.

After a fact-finding mission in February 2022, Unesco warned that the Victoria Falls was facing threats from individual and cumulative infrastructure developments. It warned that Victoria Falls could lose world heritage status.

Environmentalists and Victoria Falls residents filed an application at the High Court to block the two firms from building within the precincts of the falls.

According to court documents filed on May 13, Lawrence Benjamin Norton and nine other applicants are suing Adage Success Private Limited and Scanner Investments Private Limited, cited as first and second respondents, respectively.

Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks), the Environmental Management Agency (Ema) and the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Praz) are also cited as respondents.

“The purpose of this application is to prevent the development of commercial interest at the cataract and rainforest sites, which development would only suit the commercial operators and would negatively impact on the global aesthetic perspective of the Falls,” reads part of the application.

“It is clear and simple to note how the aesthetics of this historic and pristine site would be detrimentally affected. The risk is too great to the applicants and the Zimbabwean public as regards a crucial environmental area of our country, and accordingly, this application is filed in the public interest…

“I further submit that the allocation of cataract to the first respondent and rainforest to the second respondent has significant and material effects as regards the future and rights of the public of Zimbabwe and notably constitute a genuine threat to the preservation of the Victoria Falls as a World Heritage Site.

“In essence, therefore, the process of the law, and the privileges granted to Zimbabweans have been flouted by the third respondent (Parks and Wildlife Authority) and other authorities involved in the granting of the concessions.

“The alleged permits cannot be taken on review as no such permits have been evidenced or tendered. The entire process is being sought to be carried out in a clandestine manner,” excerpts of the application read.

Historically, the applicants submitted, no commercial enterprises on the cataract and the rainforest have been allowed.

“The applicants bring the present application for the respondents to confirm whether or not any lawful permit as regards two commercial sites in Victoria Falls have been issued and to provide written reasons as regards same and to confirm whether all due processes were complied with as contemplated with the Administration of Justice Act,” reads the High Court case number HC 3576/22.

“It has come to the applicants’ attention that as at April 14 that the first and second respondents have somehow purportedly gained permits from third respondent without public enquiry or comment to operate two sites in the designated ‘highly sensitive zones’…surrounding the waterfall itself…and the immediate vicinity of the rainforest created by the spray of the Falls.”

Norton (first applicant) demanded answers from Zimparks.

He said Zimparks promised to respond to his questions in November.

“I confirm having addressed two open letters to Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority which have gone unanswered,” Norton said.

“I do confirm that the third respondent called for a stakeholder meeting on 9 May 2022 in which I confirm I raised the concerns over the issues of the two sites as otherwise detailed in this application, in which questions were not answered directly and I was advised we would be informed in November.”

Norton wrote in his application that he sought legal advice from lawyers who cautioned him against waiting for the “day of reckoning” (November).

He then approached the courts for redress.

“I am advised by my legal practitioners of record that in such circumstances one cannot await the day of reckoning but must act. I confirm that the need to act due to potential harm is already upon us,” Norton said.

“It is clear that the developers intend to proceed come ‘hell or high water’ without consideration of past objections, successful petitions and my own open letter.”

The applicants also submitted documents to the High Court which they claimed showed evidence of “land clearing” underway at the rainforest and “advertisements for trips to the cataract site”.

Only a legal solution, the applicants wrote, could push back manoeuvres by the two investment firms.

“I am further advised by my legal counsel that there is no alternative remedy than the relief being sought,” Norton said.

The applicants are being represented by Advocate Fadzayi Mahere.

Responding to Norton’s application, Zimparks Director General Fulton Mangwanya argued that the applicant’s concerns were driven by financial reasons.

In his opposing affidavit submitted on June 14, 2022, Zimparks boss said Norton’s application should be dismissed.

“The applicant’s interest in this matter is purely financial and this is reflected in the papers before the courts,” Mangwanya’s affidavit reads.

“I am advised by my legal practitioners that an applicant with an application like this one is required to prove that they have a direct and substantial interest in the matter.

“Based on the foregoing, the applicant’s interest is a financial interest in this matter. Again, I embrace the advice of my legal practitioners of record that this court has made it very clear in a plethora of decisions that financial interest does not confer to a litigant locus standi.”

Source: Dogfight over Victoria Falls (29/07/22)

Victoria Falls heritage status under threat, Unesco warns

Plans to build a hydroelectric power plant, a large hotel and a golf course will endanger the southern African natural wonder’s World Heritage Site accreditation, says Unesco.

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) is warning that Victoria Falls could lose World Heritage Site status if the Zimbabwean and Zambian governments proceed with development plans near one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

Victoria Falls, on the Zambezi River, is on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe and is the world’s largest sheet of falling water, spanning 1.7km and dropping 108m into a gorge. It is the main tourist attraction for both countries, where visitors can enjoy sightseeing, bungee jumping, white-water rafting, boat cruises, game viewing and the world-famous Flight of Angels.

Plans are at an advanced stage to build a hydroelectric power station, a 300-bed hotel complex and a golf course near the falls, according to a Unesco report.

The power plant proposal comes as Zimbabwe is facing an acute shortage of electricity that has seen the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) introduce power cuts. Zesa is also struggling to pay at least $6-million a month for electricity it gets from Zambia – which has achieved an electricity generation surplus of 1,156MW since a new power plant was built in the north of the country.

Victor Mapani, managing director of Zambia’s power utility Zesco, has said the country’s power surplus is available for trade in the southern African region, within the interconnected power network.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced this week that he planned to engage his Zambian and Mozambican counterparts with a view to solving his country’s power deficit.

‘Pushing away tourists’

Some commentators say building a power plant near Victoria Falls will ease Zimbabwe’s electricity problems, but activists like Farai Maguwu, director of the Centre for Natural Resource Governance, say it will have a negative impact on Zimbabwe’s already ailing economy. The country’s month-on-month inflation rate hit 25.6% in July.

A recent Zimbabwe cabinet report said tourism contributes at least $1.9-billion to gross domestic product annually, and projected it could hit a $5-billion target by 2025.

However, Maguwu said projections might not be met if the developments go ahead.

“Victoria Falls is one of the natural wonders created by God. It is important that the falls are preserved because that is what attracts tourists.

“The Zimbabwean government should not be seen to be pushing away foreign tourists. It is not surprising that some top government officials are seeing an opportunity to make money through these commercial projects,” said Maguwu.

Zimbabwe’s minister of environment and tourism, Mangaliso Ndlovu, declined to comment on “the Unesco matter”.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Blessing Munyenyiwa: Victoria Falls’ innovator, conservationist and man with a mission”

Home affairs and heritage minister Kazembe Kazembe said he was not aware of any proposed commercial activities near Victoria Falls. “I am not aware of the project. If indeed the project is on the cards I trust your concerns will have been considered during the design. The heritage will certainly be protected,” he said.

However, Zimbabwe Environment and Management Agency communications officer Joyce Chapungu said: “We have not received any documentation for these proposed developmental projects to enable us to do any environmental impact assessment exercise in order to ascertain how these projects would affect the concerned district.”

Bigger picture

Director of the Coalition for Market and Liberal Solutions Rejoice Ngwenya urged Zambian and Zimbabwean authorities to move the projects elsewhere.

“It is important for both Zambia and Zimbabwe to respect the views and expertise of Unesco. These governments can do these projects at least 40km from the heritage site. It is not in dispute that construction of a hotel, power plant and golf course will create jobs, but they must look at the bigger picture.”

Labour Economic Research Institute of Zimbabwe economist Prosper Chitambara said the projects would not hit the economy.

“Tourists come to see the waterfall and there is no tourist who would want to go to a place where there is no electricity and enough accommodation. The setting up of a hotel and a power plant will help in revamping facilities in the resort town,” he said. 

Source: Victoria Falls heritage status under threat, Unesco warns (11/08/22)

Residents present legal case against tourism development proposals at Victoria Falls

Recent press reports in Zimbabwe have detailed the submission of a legal appeal by a group of local residents in Victoria Falls against permits issued by the National Park Authority for the operation of tourism activities to Cataract Island and development of a restaurant immediately above the Falls. 

The documents name Adage Success Private Limited and Scanner Investments Private Limited as respective respondents in the controversial proposals to operate tours to Cataract Island and development of a new riverside restaurant immediately above the Devil's Cataract, both sites being located within the Victoria Falls National Park and Victoria Falls National Monument 'Special Area,' and integral parts of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

" 'The purpose of this application is to prevent the development of commercial interest at the cataract and rainforest sites, which development would only suit the commercial operators and would negatively impact on the global aesthetic perspective of the Falls,' reads part of the application.

" 'It is clear and simple to note how the aesthetics of this historic and pristine site would be detrimentally affected. The risk is too great to the applicants and the Zimbabwean public as regards a crucial environmental area of our country, and accordingly, this application is filed in the public interest...

" 'I further submit that the allocation of cataract to the first respondent and rainforest to the second respondent has significant and material effects as regards the future and rights of the public of Zimbabwe and notably constitute a genuine threat to the preservation of the Victoria Falls as a World Heritage Site.

" 'In essence, therefore, the process of the law, and the privileges granted to Zimbabweans have been flouted by the third respondent (Parks and Wildlife Authority) and other authorities involved in the granting of the concessions. The alleged permits cannot be taken on review as no such permits have been evidenced or tendered. The entire process is being sought to be carried out in a clandestine manner,' excerpts of the application read.

Historically, the applicants submitted, no commercial enterprises on the cataract and the rainforest have been allowed.

“The applicants bring the present application for the respondents to confirm whether or not any lawful permit as regards two commercial sites in Victoria Falls have been issued and to provide written reasons as regards same and to confirm whether all due processes were complied with as contemplated with the Administration of Justice Act,” reads the High Court case number HC 3576/22." (Zimbabwe Independent, July 2022)

In a subsequent follow-up article published online on 5th August it was reported that the Environmental Management Agency had confirmed the issuing of approval for the riverside restaurant proposal.

"EMA spokesperson Amkela Sidange told the Independent that Scanner Investments had been issued with an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) certificate after weighing submissions made by key stakeholders including the Unesco local office.

" 'Scanner has an EIA certificate whose approval came with recommendations from landowners and relevant stakeholders who include the local Unesco office,' she said this week, explaining that she was not aware of the nature of the commercial project the firm intended to set up in the delicate areas of the falls." (Zimbabwe Independent, August 2022)

It is unknown what information on the proposal was disclosed to the UNESCO regional office (in Harare) or what if any official comment on the proposal was made. It appears, however, that the EIA document and certificate have been approved on the basis of a mistaken claim that the site is located outside of the highly sensitive ecological 'red' zone and therefore is an 'allowed development.' the site is, and always has been, located within the core 'red' zone of the World Heritage Site and as such the development should not be allowed.

The EMA spokesperson also clarified that no EIA had been submitted in relation to the proposal to operate tours to Cataract Island, including swimming in the natural plunge pools which form on the lip of the Falls, as there would be no infrastructure development on the site.

"Commenting on Adage Success, Sidange said the firm had not been issued an EIA, but was aware that its proposal spelt out intentions to set up recreational swimming facilities within the Rainforest is not an 'infrastructure' project." (Zimbabwe Independent, August 2022)

Whilst the National Park Authority may have decided that a EIA was not necessary for the proposal, the Victoria Falls National Park is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, and UNESCO have previously specifically requested an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for this proposal, which has a controversial history.

“Further requests the States Parties to clarify the exact locations of all developments and the plans to utilize Cataract Island for tourism, and to submit to the World Heritage Centre for review by IUCN, an ESIA for each of these projects, including a specific assessment of the impacts on OUV.” (World Heritage Committee, 2017)

Tours to the island were launched in April this year.

The controversy over these two new proposals comes at a time when there are serious concerns over the management of the Victoria Falls World Heritage Site, with the new Mosi-oa-Tunya Livingstone Resort development in Zambia attracting critical comments from a recent UNESCO fact-finding visit to the site (held in February). 

A report on the findings of the visit, due to be presented to the next meeting of the World Heritage Committee, warns that the Victoria Falls World Heritage Site "is facing increasing threats from individual and cumulative infrastructure developments" and concludes that the Outstanding Universal Values for which the Falls are globally recognised could be considered to be in danger if current development proposals proceed without the appropriate level of consideration for the environment.

Since the visit, however, details of a raft of tourism development proposals have emerged on the Zimbabwean side of the river, raising serious concerns over the future of the World Heritage Site.

Further Reading

Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (June 2022) Cataract Island Tours Threaten Victoria Falls World Heritage Status (external link, opens in new window).

Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (July 2022) UNESCO Report Raises Concerns Over Controversial Zambian Hotel Development at Victoria Falls (external link, opens in a new window).

World Heritage Committee (2017) Conservation issues presented to the World Heritage Committee in 2017 (external site, opens in a new window).

World Heritage Committee (2022) Mission Report Mosi-oa- Tunya, Victoria Falls (Zambia/ Zimbabwe) 9-13 February 2022 (pdf download [3.16 mb], opens in a new window)

Zimbabwe Independent (July 2022) Dogfight over Victoria Falls (external site, opens in a new window).

Zimbabwe Independent (August 2022) Praz disowns Vic Falls project (external site, opens in a new window).

Keep Victoria Falls Wild

Read more on current wave of tourism developments which threaten Victoria Falls: Keep Victoria Falls Wild (external site, opens in a new window).

Local residents and stakeholders have also established an online petition against these and other tourism developments which currently threaten the wildlife and scenic value of the Victoria Falls and surrounding area.

  

Livingstone: Vic Falls Visits Rise

 The Victoria Falls has registered a 16,000 rise in visitations in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year.

The falls in Zambia’s tourist capital Livingstone, has registered over 90,000 visitors in the first half of this year compared to 74,000 visitations the same period last year.

This translates into a 26. 4 percent increase in visitations.

And the Railway Museum has recorded an 11,000 increase in visitations compared to the same period last year.

The museum has this year seen 71-thousand visitations compared to 60,000 last year translating into a 17.2 percent increase in visitations in the half of this year, compared to the same period last year.

National Heritage Conservation Commission -NHCC- Acting Director, South West Region, RICHARD MBEWE, has attributed the increase to the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions.

Mr. MBEWE says the inclusion of Angola and Namibia to the KAZA UNIVISA has also contributed to the increase of visitors.

He adds that the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions -MICE- industry has equally contributed to the numbers.

Source: Vic Falls Visits Spike (07/08/22)

Praz disowns Vic Falls project

 THE Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Praz) has dissociated itself from  permits issued to two firms by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) to set up commercial enterprises on the Cataract Island and Rainforest at the heart of Zimbabwe’s foremost tourism site, the Victoria Falls, emerging details show.

As reported by the Zimbabwe Independent last week, ZimParks, who are the third respondent in a High Court application, is facing a lawsuit from Lawrence Benjamin Norton alongside nine other applicants for issuing permits to Adage Success and Scanner Investments who intend to set up commercial operations close to the falls.

The court case was filed in May this year at the High Court in Harare.

The Environmental Management Agency (Ema) and Praz are cited as respondents in Norton’s application, who is seeking to “prevent the development of commercial interests at the Cataract and Rainforest sites”.

In February, United Nations agency Unesco noted that the Victoria Falls “is facing increasing threats from individual and cumulative infrastructure developments, whose footprints are inside the property”.

At the heart of Norton’s application lies the question of the involvement of Praz and Ema in the issuance of permits to the two companies without going to tender.

Praz this week told the Independent that they were not involved in issuing the permits.

The two companies are cited as first and second respondents in Norton’s application.

Praz chief executive officer Clever Ruswa said: “Following promulgation of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act, Praz, unlike its predecessor…is a regulator and does not award tenders. It did not therefore award any permits.”

Ruswa highlighted that Praz was not familiar with the circumstances leading to the issuance of permits to Adage Success and Scanner Investments.

“For reasons cited above, Praz is unaware whether there were such tenders, and if there were, what the costs involved were. The authority is not aware of any public tendering that took place,” he said in an e-mailed response to this publication.

According to Norton’s application, Adage Success and Scanner Investments were “given permits by ZimParks without public enquiry or comment to operate two sites in the designated “highly sensitive zones”…surrounding the waterfall itself…and the immediate vicinity of the Rainforest created by the spray of the Falls”.

Norton’s application, Ruswa highlighted, does not seek any relief from Praz, but ZimParks.

“Praz is aware of the citation as a respondent in the case but there is no relief being sought from Praz in the matter,” Ruswa said, expressing the right not to comment further in the matter, whose judgment has since been reserved.

Ema spokesperson Amkela Sidange told the Independent that Scanner Investments had been issued with an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) certificate after weighing submissions made by key stakeholders including the Unesco local office.

“Scanner has an EIA certificate whose approval came with recommendations from landowners and relevant stakeholders who include the local Unesco office,” she said this week, explaining that she was not aware of the nature of the commercial project the firm intended to set up in the delicate areas of the falls.

Commenting on Adage Success, Sidange said the firm had not been issued an EIA, but was aware that its proposal spelt out intentions to set up recreational swimming facilities within the Rainforest is not an “infrastructure” project.

Further inquiries to Sidange on Adage Success’ intentions to build a swimming pool to support its recreational facilities failed to draw any responses.

She said: “Adage Success is a proposed activity (swimming) not infrastructure as far as information got by Ema (shows).”

At the time of writing, ZimParks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo had not responded to questions posed by this publication.

The Independent, among other questions, sought to understand the fees paid by Adage Success and Scanner Investments to obtain the permits, the terms of the permits and whether the entity flighted a tender notice for the same in line with public tendering procedures.

In light of the rapid infrastructure developments in the resort city, which have attracted Unesco’s attention, Victoria Falls Council Town Clerk Ronnie Dube last week said in an interview the authority would continue to enforce “strict” adherence to regulations governing planned projects.

He said: “We will continue to adhere to strict development conditions and EIA recommendations”.

Responding to measures the authority has put in place to maintain the World Heritage Site status conferred on the Victoria Falls by Unesco in 1989, Dube said swathes of land which are habitats to animals would remain “untouched”.

“We enforce development controls, leaving animal corridors untouched. We are also minimising developments in areas towards the property (falls),” he said.

However, in its February report, Unesco noted that the unrestrained projects in the resort city, some of which encroached in certain sensitive areas of the tourist attraction risked the Victoria Falls being delisted as a World Heritage Site.

Norton also raised the same fears in his application. But, ZimParks in its opposing affidavit dismissed Norton’s application, citing that it was purely driven by financial interests, and as such lacked locus standi.

“The applicant’s interest in this matter is purely financial and this is reflected in the papers before the courts,” ZimParks director general Fulton Upenyu Mangwanya said in his affidavit deposed at the High Court on July 14. The Victoria Falls is a world class tourist attraction, which plunges 108 metres down a gorge. In 2016, former Tourism minister Walter Mzembi underscored that Zimbabwe and Zambia, which are separated by the Zambezi River, had potential to generate US$4,8 billion annually in tourism receipts after expansion of the Victoria Falls International Airport. But Unesco has expressed concern on planned infrastructure projects either side of the Zambezi River.

At the time of going to print, Zambia’s information minister Caroline Kasanda had not commented on Lusaka’s position on the Unesco report.

Source: Praz disowns Vic Falls project (5/8/22)