Herald: Victoria Falls Risks Endangered Listingunless urgent measures are taken, a senior official from National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe said yesterday.
NMMZ deputy director Mrs Traude Rodgers yesterday told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence and Home Affairs that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) was considering listing the natural wonder on the endangered list.
Listing of a heritage site as endangered means that its status is threatened and urgent steps and measures are needed to protect the site.
"It is going to be on the endangered list which is a very serious issue," Mrs Rodgers said.
NMMZ director for research and development Mr Pascal Taruvinga, who was part of organisation’s team, said the deterioration was attributable to the ongoing wrangle over the control and management of the falls between his organisation and the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.
"Unesco thinks that we have failed to manage the Victoria Falls as a universal site.
"This emanates from that Victoria Falls does not have an integrated management plan and the lack of institutional co-operation between Parks and ourselves," Mr Taruvinga said.
The two Government departments are embroiled in a row over the sharing of the revenue from the site, which they both manage.
NMMZ director Dr Godfrey Mahachi in September said the matter had once been referred to the Attorney-General’s Office for a legal opinion and the advice was that NMMZ should manage gazetted areas, including the Victoria Falls, while Parks would administer the rest of the areas.
At one stage, officials from the President’s Office had to intervene in the dispute but a permanent solution is yet to be found. |