Python killings on the rise in Zimbabwe’s Lupane area

The snakes are killed for their meat, for use in spiritual rituals and in retaliation to livestock predation

(DC)

By Calvin Manika for Community Podium News

The love for python meat and traditional rituals landed Mthandazo Ncube of Gomoza village under Chief Mabhikwa in Lupane in jail. Despite enlisting the services of a renowned defence lawyer, Ncube was found guilty as the court made it clear that the python was protected by the law.

Ncube, recalled the day he was called in by a friend to capture the python which had swallowed a cat.

“A neighbour who had sighted the giant reptile behind his vegetable garden alerted me. It was resting after feasting on a cat. This was a perfect opportunity for me to finally get my hands on the coveted snake. I thought by killing it, I was saving the whole village because these reptiles prey on our animals and pose a danger to humans.

“However, a week later I was invited by Lupane police and investigations were done leading to

my conviction. I was oblivious of the lengthy sentence that awaited me and so it came as a shock,” said Ncube who completed his sentence last year.

In Zimbabwe, illegal possession and/or killing of a python, which is an endangered and protected species, carries a mandatory nine year gaol term. Various reasons have been put forward for the killing of pythons in the southern African country.

In Lupane, the capital of Matabeleland North province, the killing of pythons is rampant due to their large numbers. Lupane is characterised by vast forests of Mopani trees, long grass during the rain season and a variety of bushes.

Pythons have been killed in the recent past as people consume them, use them for rituals or sell the carcass of the endangered snake.

“Goats, donkeys and cattle attract the reptiles from their natural habitats. Unfortunately, most of the time we usually discover the damage when it has already happened,” said Obvious Moyo, a villager.

Several people have been arraigned before the courts for offences around pythons.

In 2016, Archwell Maramba was jailed for nine years for eating a python. He had been eating the snake meat for its medicinal value. He told the court that eating python flesh had seen his spine problem improve.

The same year, a 58-year-old man was arrested after a drying snakeskin and python meat was found in his house.

In 2017, a 46-year old villager in western Lupane was jailed for nine years after police officers acting on a tip-off found a four-metre long python skin hanging on his dining room wall. In the same year, another man was jailed for 9 years for selling a belt made from python skin worth US$2,000 (£1,617). The twenty-nine year-old Kingstone Gwenzi was arrested by detectives acting on a tip-off.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a court official said pythons are usually killed by two groups of people.

“There are people who defend themselves by alleging that the giant snakes have been attacking their livestock. And there is this other group of people with traditional beliefs that killing and using some parts of pythons will strengthen them spiritually or cure a disease. But the law is clear and must be obeyed,” he said.

There was a proliferation of python killings at the height of Covid-19 due to limited patrols by park rangers at the time.

Villagers explained that the extermination of pythons is being done “silently” to avoid the law.

“Seeing others getting arrested for killing pythons has deterred some villagers from publicly killing these reptiles. Sometimes, we get wind of such killings through rumours, and that makes it hard for us to report perpetrators to the authorities. I believe that the parks management authorities need to do more on information gathering to weed out perpetrators with our help,” said Agnes Moyo, a villager.

One Lupane resident, Martin Stobart, wrote to the Prosecutor General’s Office in 2016 in defence of a Lupane man who was jailed for killing a python.

“The python invaded the man’s fowl run and swallowed some chickens and he naturally killed the reptile. Giving his evidence-in-chief, the man averred that he did not know that the snakewas a protected species. Indeed, how could the snake be possibly protected given the fact that it had entered his homestead and into the chicken run where it proceeded to gobble up his fowls?” argued Stobart.

ZimParks says the non-venomous python should not be killed because it is an endangered species and must be disposed of into its natural habitat.

Speaking on measures being taken to protect wildlife, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority Head of Communications, Tinashe Farawo said anti-poaching involves law enforcement pertaining to wildlife in parks estates, communal lands and within the country.

“Anti-poaching tactics involve workshops which are educational awareness. Anti- Poaching efforts involve patrols which have increased within potential areas and intelligence gathering,” said Farawo.

Village Head of Gandangula, Stewart Ncube said, the killing of pythons was wrong both legally and morally.

“We work with the police and national parks rangers to make sure that all endangered animals and our forests are protected. It is for our posterity. We have formed community patrol teams to monitor suspicious movements. This is where wildlife poachers are being detected,” he added.

Speak Out for Animals Executive Director, Ever Chinoda said she would assign someone to respond when contacted for comment but there had not been any response at the time of publishing.

This article is reproduced here as part of the African Conservation Journalism Programme, funded in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe by USAID’s VukaNow: Activity. Implemented by the international conservation organization Space for Giants, it aims to expand the reach of conservation and environmental journalism in Africa, and bring more African voices into the international conservation debate. Written articles from the Mozambican and Angolan cohorts are translated from Portuguese. Broadcast stories remain in the original language.

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