The Government has warned farmers against allowing livestock to graze next to roadsides, saying it will not hesitate to confiscate them in terms of the law to prevent road accidents, reported the Chronicle.
Statutory Instrument 308 of 1974 prohibits any person from allowing animals to graze near roads.
Addressing farmers last week, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Deputy Minister, Davis Marapira, said:
It is indeed important that we pen our livestock, especially at night, and learn to do this to prevent them from roaming around highways causing injury, death, and property damage.
I would also like to encourage the farmers to create fence paddocks as they act as barriers in the event that livestock may want to escape at night…
However, it is disheartening as we speak today that most of the fences were vandalized by us locals, defeating the purpose for which it was fenced.
Let us respect the warning signs. It is in this regard that I want to bring the Statutory Instrument 308 of 1974, which prohibits any person from allowing animals to graze near roads.
To avoid having your cattle confiscated, pen them. Remember, to be foretold is to be forearmed.
The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ), a parastatal under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, is fencing off the country’s highways as part of measures to reduce road traffic accidents.
TSCZ managing director, Munesu Munodawafa, said an average of five people die on local roads while about 38 people are injured daily.
He pleaded with members of the public to herd their cattle during the day and lock them at night to avoid the occurrence of accidents.
In 2019, the TSCZ, with the help of the Government, installed a highway fence from Gweru to Plumtree. The fence was however vandalized just a few weeks later.
