Buffalo kills man in Mapoma, lawmaker alleges negligence by wildlife agency

The Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) in Muchinga Province has been accused of negligence leading to the death of Sitafu Chisala of Mapoma Zone.

On January 10, 2023, Chisala, aged 49 and survived by 10 children was allegedly brutally killed by a Buffalo which had strayed outside the Game Management Area (GMA) to his farm.

During this farming period, wild animals, including Buffaloes stray from the GMA into Maize fields and this is what happened in the case of the late Chisala.

This is according to Kanchibiya Constituency Member of Parliament, Sunday Chanda in a statement issued on Thursday.

At this point, Chanda said, the family to the deceased decided to move the body to the funeral house within Mapoma Zone of Kanchibiya Constituency.

“On behalf of the people of Kanchibiya Constituency, I wish to register our utmost disappointment DNPW in Muchinga Province and Kanchibiya District in particular over the insensitive and inhuman treatment residents are subjected to at the hands of DNPW officers especially in cases of human-animal conflicts.

“To our disappointment, DNPW refused to move Chisala’s body to the mortuary in Mpika on very flimsy and inhumane grounds,” he said.

Chanda regretted that while protecting wildlife, DNPW’s major preoccupation in Kanchibiya District was the arresting of individuals defying the fish ban instead of protecting human life from savage wild animals such as buffaloes.

He complained that frantic efforts to get DNPW on board even through the Office of the Provincial Minister over the last 24 hours had proved futile.

The matter, Chanda said, was also reported to Zambia Police in Mpika.

“We are therefore calling on the parent Ministry to recall the current crop of DNPW top officers from the District. The community is ready to partner with a people-centred DNPW unlike the current crop. This is a matter the people of Kanchibiya Constituency will pursue with Government once Parliament resumes sitting.

“Lastly, we wish to call on Government to come up with measures to compensate innocent victims of human-animal attacks outside GMAs. This is the justice we seek for the late Sitafu Chisala,” he said.