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Mwanza — NAVIGATING the waters of the mighty Lake Victoria for a catch is becoming a wrestling operation among Tanzanian fishermen.

Six out of 12 registered fish processing plants are dormant. The six others – Nile Perch, Vick Fish, TFP, VICTORIA, MZAWA and Mwanza Fish – are also operating at less than 30 percent of their capacity, according to the fishers and the processors association.

Fishermen who used to catch 500 kilograms per day are now struggling to catch five kilograms, most times returning empty-handed.

The majority of fishermen catch Nile perch, tilapia, haprochromis (furu) and silver cyprinid (dagaa), but Nile perch leads in exports and revenue.

Now, their lives and that of locals who depend on fishing activity in Mwanza, a port city on the shore of Lake Victoria in northern Tanzania, have turned into a lament, with poverty looming over them, if not already engulfing their existence.

This gripping tale unfolds in a region where 3.3 percent of the economy depends on fishing – a major decline from 7 percent in 2011. Locals and experts have quickly attributed the new reality to depleting fish stocks in the lake.

“There is no factory in Mwanza that is currently running double shifts. Local factories now get their supplies at least after two or three days each week,” said Tanzania’s Industrial Fishing and Processors Association (TIFPA) Executive Secretary, Onesmo Sulle.

READ: Lake Victoria faces intensive overfishing

All of this, thanks to illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing activities. The activities have lowered the average daily catch to less than five kilograms in a span of just 10 years.

A spot survey to these factories between December 2023 and January 2024 noted limited activities with no signs of regular factory operations.

Some factories including Vick Fish and Tan Perch were closed, and security personnel declined to give a comment.

These factories provided direct and indirect jobs to tens of hundreds of people around the Lake.

The TIFPA Executive Secretary, Onesmo Sulle, could not provide details on the list of factories that have ceased operations, but explained that those in operation are no longer making profit.

“The factories are operating under very low capacity. They are alive because they must repay their loan and equity,” he said.

In Mwanza and elsewhere around Lake Victoria, the fishing industry relies on a special link between local factories and banks.

Factories get loans to run their operations, which, in turn, are extended to support local fishermen through provisions of fishing gear, fuel, food, and other essential expenses.

The fishermen are, therefore, required to supply fish to the factory equivalent to the value of the financial support.

This mutually beneficial arrangement hinges on the successful operation of both parties. In fact, if a factory closes down, money given to the fishermen goes away, but also when fishers fail to meet the supply target, the factory is at risk of failing to repay its loans, potentially leading to bankruptcy.

Masumbuko Polla, Anold Mashimba, and Magesa Jackson, once self-acclaimed top fishermen of Lake Victoria, who each ran a fleet of more than 50 fishing boats and camps in Musoma (in Mara region), Sengerema, Ukerewe, and Magu (both in Mwanza region) and Kalebe in Kagera region, have all declared bankruptcy.

There are hundreds of other fishers who have also publicly gone off the fishing radar.

Polla had dedicated 25 years of his life to fishing but said he had to call it quits following Operation Sangara.

The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock Development in Tanzania introduced this initiative in 2017, which significantly improved fish stocks in Lake Victoria by confiscating illegal fishing gear, arresting more than 1,000 individuals, and reducing illegal fishing activities from 60 to 25 percent.

According to the fisherman, the operation destroyed a significant portion of his properties. “The repercussions were profound…” Polla said.

Today, Polla said he was spending at least 40 liters of petrol to catch a mere seven kilograms of fish, sometimes not getting anything.

“That becomes a more challenging and unsustainable endeavor for me with no hope for revival. I had to make the difficult decision to transition to farming,” he said.

The prevalence of illegal fishing across the lake has left Polla and many other fishermen disillusioned about the prospects of their return to the lake.

Mashimba echoed a similar sentiment to Polla, emphasizing the unfavorable cost-benefit ratio in the current fishing landscape.

READ: Growth of urbanisation threatens fish habitat

The Tanzania National Fisheries Policy of 2015 acknowledged illegal fishing as the second biggest challenge in managing the fisheries sector in the country.

Through this policy, the government vowed to establish a monitoring, control and surveillance system to combat illegalities within the sector as well as an authority to deal with conservation and protection of fisheries resources and environment in marine and freshwater areas.

Also, the government promised to collaborate with stakeholders to eliminate illegal and destructive fishing gears and practices.

This, however, is not the case with Lake Victoria, where fisheries account for more than 60 percent of the country’s total fish catches.

Fishermen here are increasingly deploying beach seines called “kokoro,” monofilament nets, trawlers, and gillnets with less than 17 millimeters mesh size — all being illegal fishing gears, according to Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI).

The authority to deal with conservation and protection of fisheries resources in freshwater has not been established. Fishermen also say monitoring, control and surveillance in the lake is seasonal, usually during special operations.

The Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Development, Abdallah Ulega, confirmed that less than 40 percent of the planned 8,400 patrols were conducted during the 2023/24 fiscal year.

However, he was quick to stress that the ministry plans to deploy 85 drones to patrol the country’s water bodies.

Official government figures by the Ministry of Finance reveal a sharp decline in exports of Nile Perch between 2019 and 2022.

From about 25,000 tons of Nile Perch valued at USD $128 million exported in 2011, these fish exports doubled in value by 2015, but then decreased due to escalating incidents of illegal fishing that depleted the fish stock.

Remedial efforts, including Operation Sangara I, II, and III, boosted revenues to Tsh 17.6 billion (USD $6.9 million) by 2019, and the country’s fish economy was at a high.

Nile Perch exports varied over 2011-2022

Lake Victoria’s Bounty

But from 2019, exports fell steadily. The most recent government survey report indicates that by 2022, revenues from Nile Perch exports had halved to Tsh 8.9 billion (USD $3.5 million).

Such a drop in revenue has also left families and communities that depend on fishing activities paralyzed.

“There are no fish,” said 65-year-old Paulina Misalaba, who resides in the Kigoto suburb of Sengerema district, around 56 kilometers from Mwanza.

“All of my entire life I have depended on this lake. Partly fishing and doing related activities. But now there are no fish and people are desperate,” Misalaba said.

Residents in this fishing community said they used to spend a few hours getting more than enough Tilapia and Nile perch a day.

But now, they are grappling with uncertainty, unsure whether to attribute the lack of fish to climate change, illegal fishing, government negligence in implementing stringent controls, or the indifference of their colleagues who fail to consider the consequences for tomorrow.

Alexander Onesmo, who has been making illegal fishing nets for the last six years in this area, said the depleting fish stock is a result of their collective actions.

Onesmo said while small-scale fishermen like him have limited options in the lake, large and medium-scale fishermen exploit every part of the lake.

“The government seems indifferent… I have no idea whether such indifference stems from their deep pockets or their tax payments,” said Onesmo, who was mending his new (illegal) fishing net.

“Even when we take these behemoths to the police, the entire trip turns into a maze of uncertainty.”

Onesmo and several other fishermen defend their beach seine nets, which are not permitted, as appropriate.

Sardine fishing a front to catch Nile perch

“Fishing is a hunting game,” Philemon Nsinda, a fisheries biologist and senior researcher at Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI) in Mwanza, told Daily News.

The advent of technology from basket traps and fence traps to the use of large trawl nets pulled by motorized boats has allowed fishermen to hunt in any waters.

However, the depleting fish stocks have resulted in regular clashes between dagaa (silver cyprinid or the Lake Victoria sardine) fishermen and their counterpart Nile perch fishermen.

Nsida blames the Nile perch fishermen for the problem. “These (Nile perch) fishermen are the architects of illegal fishing. They are all involved in illegal fishing,” he claimed.

He said the fishermen are increasingly using industrial fishing methods, trawling in the very limited lake pulling their mesh to dagaa fishers.

“Immediately after the nets reach the dagaa fisher, it [the net] is either cut or dumped into the lake or the catch being hauled.”

Trawling – a fishing method that involves towing a cone-shaped net through the water with a boat was introduced to the lake in 1998.

It is believed that fishermen using such a method help fishermen have a better chance of increasing their daily catch than those who station their fishing nets.

Tanzania’s freshwater fishing regulations are silent on the use of this net, which has resulted in increasing disputes among fishermen.

The Lake Victoria silver cyprinid or Rastrineobola argentea, mostly known by locals as dagaa, is a crucial source of nutrition for many low and even middle-income families in Tanzania.

The majority of fishermen in Lake Victoria today are involved in dagaa fishing, according to Juvenary Matagiri, the Chief Executive Director of the Fisher’s Union Organization (FUO) in Mwanza.

However, this freshwater sardine is also increasingly being used as a front for legalizing harmful fishing activities. A significant number of Nile perch fishermen are now opting for dagaa fishing with the ulterior motive of targeting Nile perch.

The Tanzanian state has officially sanctioned the use of designated fishing nets for dagaa extraction. While the 10 millimeter net is legal, the five millimeter net used by many fishermen is illegal.

Today, some Nile perch fishermen are using dagaa nets to catch Nile perch, instead of its legal net, which should have a mesh size exceeding 7 inches (177.8 millimeters). But the smaller nets catch baby Nile perch, which affects the species’ breeding capacity.

The most recent Lake Victoria Fisheries Frame Survey, published jointly by the Tanzanian Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development and the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO) in April 2023, shows that 98 percent of nets used by registered dagaa fishermen are small seines.

And almost all of these small seines have mesh sizes of five millimeters or less.

The East African Community (EAC) agreed that the minimum size for a caught Nile perch should be 50 centimeters. But “while many assert their involvement in dagaa fishing, that’s merely a side note.

They fish as small as less than 20 centimeters Nile perch in the name of fishing dagaa … and those fish are everywhere in the market and food joints,” Matagiri said.

Fishing dagaa here is an all-time booming business. The thriving dagaa fishing industry on the lake paints a dazzling scene at night.

Flying into Mwanza, the multitude of lights on the water used for fishing operations resembles the shimmering skyline of New York City.

From Kemondo in Bukoba to Mwanza through Musoma in the Mara region, the lights illuminate the way- thanks to busy dagaa fishermen.

From kerosene lanterns and lead-acid batteries to now solar-powered lanterns, fishermen use artificial lighting techniques to attract fish and capture dagaa during nighttime operations.

But the use of solar fishing lights and lead-acid batteries has caused confusion between fishermen, with the majority of dagaa fishers currently opting for the latter due to misconceptions and brighter illumination.

The Tanzania Fisheries and Research Institute has raised environmental concerns over the use of batteries that can potentially cause pollution, adversely affecting fish breeding and the lake’s biomass.

“If swift actions are not put in place urgently, the Nile perch population will perish in the years to come,” Matagiri warned.

READ: Fishery modernisation key to economic growth

According to TAFIRI, nearly half of the 500 different haplochromis “furu” species in Lake Victoria have disappeared, along with several other fish species such as some varieties of tilapia, partly as a result of the introduction of the predatory Nile perch in the lake during the 1950s-1960s.

But this institute reveals that the depleting number of Nile perch in the lake today has allowed several other fish species among the groups including tilapia and haplochromis to re-emerge.

Today, the Nile Perch processing factories that earlier ran two shifts are struggling to get at least five kilos of fish. Although factories are running short of fish stock supplies, the local market sees a sharp supply of fish, mostly undersized fish.

The largest Nile perch to be fished weighed 133.6 kilograms and had a length of 167 cm nearly two decades ago. Ongoing recent catches are less than 50 kilograms.

Fisheries Ecologist Enock Mlaponi detailed that Nile perch can grow to a length of nearly 200 centimeters, weighing 160 kilos or 360 pounds. The fish lay between 1.5-19 million small eggs, of which only one percent are fertilized and survive.

The fish can live up to 16 years and can start being harvested at the age of 18 months. Compounding stresses such as illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing (IUU), diseases, environmental degradation, climate change and lack of access to feed determine the aftermath of each fish in the lake.

Growing Asian demand for fish maw complicates overfishing

Industry players said that the shrinking size of Nile perch in the lake also results from the growing demand for fish maw (swim bladder) in the Asian markets.

The officer, who did not want her name to be revealed to protect her safety, said there has been a sharp demand for fish maw especially in India and China, which is pushing fishermen to hunt any size of Nile perch.

Jesca Adams, an ichthyologist from the University of Dar es Salaam, warned that harvesting premature Nile Perch diminishes the fish population’s reproductive capacity.

“It disrupts the age structure and contributes to a decline in overall fish size, leading to a shortage of mature Nile Perch in the ecosystem,” she said.

Fish maws are extracted from the Nile perch. In Mwanza, there are a few individuals involved in processing and exporting fish maw to Asia.

These individuals have set points near fishing camps and markets, where smallholder fishermen and fish sellers collect and sell the maw.

According to the Livestock and Fisheries Minister Abdallah Ulega, Tanzania laws and regulations only recognize fish maws as part of the general category of fish products, and legislation remains at large in supporting businessmen to benefit from this new lucrative business.

In Mwanza, a kilo of fish maw is sold at between Tsh.750,000 and 900,000 (around USD $350). A kilo of fish, in comparison, goes for only between Tsh.4,000 and 8,000. In China, according to Business Insider, a kilo can fetch between USD $450-1,000. Fish maw is a delicacy in China and is considered a symbol of wealth and prosperity.

Price Comparison of Nile Perch Fish and Fish Maw

While Tanzanian fishermen claim the maw is used as raw materials to produce sutures in China – sterile surgical threads used close incisions from surgery, in China it is often given as gifts at important events, consumed for its collagen components and is also stockpiled as an investment.

The former Ambassador of Tanzania to China, Mbelwa Kairuki, said in March last year that Tanzania was in discussion with Alibaba– a Chinese platform for global wholesale trade, to facilitate fish maw traders in Tanzania to get direct access to the Chinese market.

Nile perch maw is a highly valued fish product in the international market. Fish maw exports in the year 2019 contributed USD $77.9 million in Tanzania; USD $76.3 million in Uganda and USD $3.7 million in Kenya. The three countries exported an estimated total of 1,640.19 metric tons of Nile perch maws in 2019.

With this growing demand, fishermen in Tanzania are aggressively on the hunt for the Nile perch’s swim bladder.

A need for more monitoring and control

Renatus Elius, operations manager at Nile Perch Processing Factory in Mwanza, one of the factories that have been hit hard by illegal fishing activities, said the government needs to up its games on monitoring, control and surveillance.

He suggested the need to adopt the Ugandan surveillance style by deploying the army into the lake.

“Unfortunately, it seems like a daunting task to combat the rapid resurgence of illegal fishing in our waters.

I strongly urge our government to follow in the footsteps of Uganda and take decisive action,” he said, adding: “It’s disheartening … I have no doubt that if the military were to take control, order would be swiftly restored in the fishing sector. But for now, we are simply struggling.”

High Court Mwanza Registry Records of Illegal Fishing Cases: 2014-2023

From 2014 to 2022, the High Court Mwanza Registry prosecuted a steady stream of cases involving illegal fishing in various districts, including Mwanza, Nyamagana, Magu, Sengerema, Misungwi, Chato, and Geita. Geita consistently recorded the most cases.

Despite the persistence of illegal fishing, figures show that concern over the problem was at its peak in 2014-2015, with a total of 205 and 211 court cases being filed.

This number mainly decreased from 2016-2021, though it rose slightly again in 2022 to 145 cases.

The East African Community’s (EAC) fisheries watchdog, the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO), acknowledges that management measures it recommended – such as limiting fishing capacity and closing the fishing season for at least two calendar months each year- have not been adopted.

The strategy was agreed at the regional level (Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda) in 2021 to reduce overall fishing effort and protect spawning or pre-spawning fish.

Will new leadership provide hope for the fishing industry?

The Director of Fisheries Service at the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development, Mohamed Sheikh, acknowledged the concerning decline in fish stocks on Lake Victoria.

According to the latest survey conducted by the government in 2023, there was a significant 33 percent reduction in the Nile perch population since 2014.

Sheikh was appointed in November last year following the Minister’s decision to fire his predecessor Stephen Lukanga over underperformance and failure to implement comprehensive systems to end illegal fishing.

Sheikh emphasized that safeguarding fish resources is a collective responsibility extending beyond the Ministry. He said the public was becoming more aware of the detrimental effects of illegal fishing.

“The ministry is actively devising solutions to address this issue comprehensively, aiming for substantial improvements in the sector… this will take probably six months,” he said.

To tackle the challenges, the ministry has engaged executive directors of districts around Lake Victoria to foster collaborative efforts. Plans are underway to establish 16 monitoring and reporting centers to curb illegal fishing activities, according to Sheikh.

The ministry has also earmarked approximately Tsh. 1 billion (around USD $400,000) to protect vulnerable areas, crucial for maintaining a sustainable fish stock.

“There is so much we want to do to ensure the sector restores its lost glory,” Sheikh said, acknowledging the need to review the fishing regulations to battle illegal fishing in both the sea and freshwaters.

The government said it has had difficulty safeguarding the lake, particularly using expensive speed boats, and plans to adopt the use of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) drones to enhance surveillance.

It is also in discussion with the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology to develop advanced technology to code and monitor all fishing activities in the lake.

This includes installing chips on registered boats to track and monitor their movements, ultimately reinforcing effective conservation measures.

“We are undertaking a number of interventions, but now we aim to raise awareness, particularly by involving other stakeholders like the Local governments (PO – RALG), to recognize that illegal fishing will deprive them of revenue.

Fighting illegal fishing alone is not enough; our goal is to protect fish breeding grounds and this will greatly benefit us,” he said, emphasizing that the government will revise fishing regulations as soon as possible.

This story was produced in partnership with InfoNile, supported by the Pulitzer Center.

Source: allafrica.com

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Djibouti is feeling a new buzz – mosquitoes fighting other mosquitoes – in their fight against malaria

The city introduced a strain of non-biting male Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes to combat vector-borne diseases like malaria. Scientists used self-limiting genes that had previously worked with Aedes aegypti (the Zika virus, dengue, and other vectors), creating genetically modified (GMO) mosquitoes.

According to Oxitec, a biotech company, its Friendly™ female mosquitoes are genetically modified so that the female offspring cannot live, which ensures that only male mosquitoes are produced for release. The GMO male mosquitoes are released into the population where they mate with wild females thus gradually suppressing the target mosquito population.

The groundbreaking Djibouti Friendly™ Mosquito Program was launched through a collaboration between Djibouti’s National Malaria Control Programme, Association Mutualis, and Oxitec.

The first trial of the non-biting male mosquitoes was carried out in Ambouli, a community within Djibouti City, after being reviewed and approved by regulatory authorities from the government of Djibouti, and initiated with the importation of Friendly™ mosquitoes into Djibouti in December 2023.

Oxitec reports that this test release was done after two years of research on Anopheles stephensi occurrence, population sizes, and habits within various towns and neighborhoods, and involved engagement with communities and stakeholders. While designing and conducting field studies, health officers, local leaders, and regional experts, actively participated during workshops and public meetings.

“Our government’s objective is to urgently reverse malaria transmission in Djibouti which has spiked over the last decade,” said Colonel Dr Abdoulilah Ahmed Abdi, Health Advisor to the President of Djibouti.

“Today’s launch is a significant national milestone, but what’s even more exciting is the potential the solution has for the region and the entire African continent. We hope our pilot release of Oxitec’s innovative Friendly™ mosquitoes will serve as a blueprint for other nations facing similar challenges with the spread of malaria.”

Djibouti almost wiped out malaria in 2012, with only 27 cases reported. However, in the following years, there was a dramatic rise in cases that hit 73,000 by 2020. This latest technology gives hope to the race against malaria worldwide – a disease that results in about 600,000 deaths annually with sub-Saharan Africa bearing the brunt of the burden.

Source: allafrica.com

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Key reforms made by the country in the fisheries sector have attracted stakeholders to choose Tanzania as the host of the Africa Small Scale Fisheries (SSF) Summit for the first time.

According to the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, President Samia Suluhu Hassan is expected to grace the summit.

The summit, scheduled from June 5th to 7th this year in Dar es Salaam, will bring together fishermen from within and outside the country to discuss successes, challenges, and the way forward for the industry.

In addition to shedding light on the opportunities available in the blue economy, the summit will also amplify the African voice for sustainable fisheries and shape policies for fisheries management.

Addressing journalists about the summit on Thursday in Dar es Salaam, Minister for Livestock and Fisheries, Mr Abdallah Ulega disclosed the reasons that prompted the country to host this historical summit, including President Samia’s efforts to bolster economic diplomacy.

ALSO READ: Major boost for fisheries

“The main reason Tanzania got this opportunity is the stable leadership of President Samia, who facilitated the ministry to excel in the implementation of the small-scale fisheries guidelines and being the first country in the world to prepare a strategic plan to execute the guidelines, a feat that made the country shine internationally,” the minister asserted.

Mr Ulega noted that the summit will bring together fishermen from within and outside the country to discuss successes, challenges and the way forward in the industry.

He also highlighted that, in addition to shedding light on the opportunities available in the blue economy, the summit will include the 10th anniversary of the implementation of small-scale fisheries guidelines and the policy framework for managing Aquaculture in Africa.

Minister Ulega shared that in March last year, he was invited by the Director-General for the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) as an official guest to deliver a speech at the International Fisheries Conference in Italy. During his time in Italy, the minister shared the country’s experience in preparing and implementing a strategic plan for SSF guidelines and announced Tanzania’s intention to host the summit in 2024.

“President Dr Samia has been working tirelessly to ensure that the country develops its economy through water resources, the ‘blue economy’… thus, this summit will be crucial for delegates to exchange ideas, unearth opportunities and explore various technologies to ensure that the country takes significant steps towards the execution of the concepts of ‘Building a Better Tomorrow’ for our youth (BBT) and the blue economy,” he said.

Mr Ulega revealed that there are a number of benefits that the country will receive through the summit, including expanding the scope of the global market for the country’s fisheries products and opening up investment opportunities for the sector.

ALSO READ: Zanzibar to establish an institute of Maritime Studies, fisheries

“The summit will also provide a wide range of our fishermen with the opportunity to learn how to run their activities using modern technologies to increase productivity,” he added.

The summit, coordinated by the government in collaboration with various international organisations led by the African Union-Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), FAO, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and other stakeholders, will include leaders and experts in the fishing industry from Africa, investors and traders, researchers, among others.

Source: allafrica.com

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The government has unveiled investment opportunities in the tourism industry to the visiting global travel agents as it seeks to unleash the industry’s full potential.

The bustling city of Arusha on Thursday played host to an influential gathering of global travel agents and local tour operators, setting the stage for potential future collaborations aimed at boosting Tanzania’s burgeoning tourism industry.

The high-profile Business-to-Business (B2B) event saw the presence of the Deputy Conservation Commissioner in the Research and Training section of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Mr Iman Nkuwi, who outlined lucrative investment opportunities in the country’s tourism industry.

In his presentation, Mr Nkuwi emphasised that Tanzania welcomes large-scale investors willing to contribute to the development of state-of-the-art recreation facilities.

Highlighting specific investment avenues, he mentioned the establishment of wildlife captive facilities, luxury lodges and camps, beekeeping ventures, forestry projects and the rapidly growing Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) ultra facility as key areas of focus.

“We have earmarked a total of 179 investment sites for accommodation facilities with the capacity to add an extra 7,744 beds,” Mr Nkuwi announced.

His statement underscored the significant potential for expansion in Tanzania’s hospitality segment, which is seen as pivotal to cater to the increasing influx of tourists drawn to the nation’s rich biodiversity and unique cultural heritage.

The strategic locations of these investment sites, coupled with the government’s supportive policies, present a golden opportunity for global investors to tap into Tanzania’s thriving tourism industry.

Mr Nkuwi’s insights further revealed that Tanzania’s vast and diverse ecosystems, ranging from the Serengeti plains to the majestic Mount Kilimanjaro, offer unparalleled experiences to visitors, thereby driving the demand for high-quality accommodation and recreational facilities.

Mr Nkuwi reiterated the government’s commitment to facilitating and fostering an investor-friendly environment. With 179 earmarked sites ready for development, Tanzania’s tourism industry stands on the brink of a transformative era, offering promising returns for discerning investors who align with the country’s vision for sustainable and inclusive growth.

Key stakeholders at the event expressed their optimism and willingness to explore these investment opportunities. Turkey Travel Agent who serves as the Vice-President of the Istanbul Tourism Association (ISTA), Mr Murtaza Kalender, said he has fallen in love with the investment opportunities in the hospitality industry.

“We would otherwise not know that there is a huge potential for investment in the hospitality industry, without this special presentation to us. Tanzania is now my second home. I will internalise on the opportunity,” Mr Murtaza noted. He said Tanzania has what it takes to woo 15 million tourists in the next decade, if the current efforts to engage global travel agents are sustained.

“Collaboration between international travel agents and local tour operators is expected to not only bolster the tourism infrastructure but also enhance the overall visitor experience, thus contributing significantly to Tanzania’s economic growth” Mr Murtaza noted.

The B2B event in Arusha marked a significant milestone in Tanzania’s journey towards establishing itself as a premier global tourist destination.

As the dialogues initiated during this gathering evolve into concrete partnerships, the future of Tanzania’s tourism subsector looks indeed bright, brimming with endless possibilities for both investors and travellers alike.

In a landmark initiative aimed at bolstering Tanzania’s tourism industry, 120 global travel agents have embarked on an exclusive familiarisation tour in the northern tourism circuit to experience the natural beauty firsthand.

The brainchild behind this ambitious project, African Queen Adventures CEO, Alice Manupa, shared that the tour was aimed at offering the global agents a firsthand experience of Tanzania’s unparalled natural beauty and rich cultural heritage.

“This is a milestone for the Tanzania tourism industry,” Ms Manupa said, adding: “Considering that 60 per cent of global travel and tourism decisions are influenced by travel agents, hosting 120 of the world’s most influential agents is bound to skyrocket our destination profile and visibility.”

Source: allafrica.com

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TANZANIA is currently experiencing severe weather as a result of a changing climate.

Increased temperatures, prolonged droughts and erratic rainfall are resulting in significant impacts to public health and livelihoods, with climate projections indicating that the situation is expected to intensify.

The extreme drop of water levels of Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Jipe in recent years and the dramatic recession of 7 kilometers of Lake Rukwa in about 50 years, are associated, at least in part, with climate change, and are threatening economic and social activities.

The severe droughts which hit most parts of the country leading to severe food shortages, food insecurity, water scarcity, hunger and acute shortage of power signify the vulnerability of the country to impacts of climate change.

The country depends on the media to speak out on all these environmental issues, for the betterment of us, human beings and other living creatures provided that we depend on each other for our survival.

Engineer Matage Dotto, on behalf of the Managing Director of Bukoba Urban Water and Sanitation Authority (BUWASA), appealed to the media across the country to make climate change their top agenda by educating the public on its effects and necessary steps to be taken.

“Specialization makes a journalist to be perfect. You should focus on specialization in different fields, including environmental reporting,” he said.

Several people are reported to have died while significant infrastructures were destroyed by floods that recently hit Kagera Region.

Also Read: Fueling equality: How clean cooking drives women’s empowerment in Tanzania

Over 300 households were recently displaced following landslides which hit Muleba District’s Ilemela village.

Reports indicate that the landslide started slowly on April 17th of this year, followed by a big landslide that swept through Bushabo hamlet, damaging at least 14 houses completely while over 300 families were displaced.

However, there were no casualties. A camp for fishermen located at Bushabo hamlet was completely destroyed by the landslide. This is the first incident involving a landslide.

The incident has caused panic among citizens. A significant number of crops had also been washed away. A landslide is a mass movement of material, such as rock, earth or debris, down a slope.

This can happen suddenly or more slowly over long periods of time. When the force of gravity acting on a slope exceeds the resisting force of a slope, the slope will fail, and a landslide occurs. Landslides are caused by rain, earthquakes, volcanos and other factors.

Vice President Dr Philip Mpango, on the other hand, has called on international stakeholders to cooperate and support Tanzania in climate change adaptation, including disaster control and response, and building the capacity of the early warning system.

Cooperation can be further increased in building the ability to cope with climate change and facilitating modern agriculture that is compatible with the climate to improve productivity for smallholder farmers.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan has already launched the African Women Clean Cooking Support Programme (AWCCSP) and the National Strategy for Clean Cooking Energy 2024-2034.

President Samia recently co-chaired the Paris Clean Cooking Energy Summit, alongside African Development Bank Group President Dr Akinwumi Adesina, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store of Norway and International Energy Agency Executive Director, Fatih Birol.

The Paris summit aimed to secure commitments toward 4 billion US dollars (about 10tr/- ) needed to close clean cooking funding gap for African women.

The landmark event aimed to drive significant change in clean cooking access for the nearly one billion Africans using polluting fuels, which cause the premature deaths of approximately half a million women and children every year.

Women and girls spend up to five hours a day collecting fuel and cooking. This leaveslittle time for education, social or economic activities.

Also Read: COLUMN: FROM TABORA WITH LOVE. I think soon we will have to own a boat

Worldwide, according to the African Development Bank (AFDB) statement, the annual economic cost of women and girls’ time searching for fuel wood is estimated at 800 billion US dollars. The health costs are as high as 1.4 trillion US dollars.

“The capital investment needed to ensure universal clean cooking access in Africa by 2030 is accessible,” AFDB said adding, “The 4.0 billion US dollars needed annually is a small fraction of the 2.8 trillion US dollars invested globally in energy each year”.

Clean cooking initiatives are eligible under the Climate Action Window (CAW) of the African Development Fund (ADF), the AFDB Group’s concessional window for 37 of Africa’s poorest and most vulnerable countries.

Increased adoption of clean cooking fuels such as electricity, biogas and sustainable biofuels will improve the health and well- being of Africa’s women and children and also protect Africa’s forests.

Several African countries have begun taking proactive measures to accelerate clean cooking adoption. Data indicate that about 6.7 per cent of Tanzanian population are using clean cooking energy, Kenya (23 percent), Uganda (0.7 percent), Ghana (30 percent) and India (71.7 per cent).

The AFDB’s commitment to addressing the clean cooking crisis aligns with its high five priorities- particularly “Light Up and Power Africa” and “Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa.”

Source: allafrica.com

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By CHRIS ERASMUS

Mandisa Maya is set to lead South Africa’s judiciary for the next 10 years, after the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), which oversees senior judicial appointments, determined on Tuesday to recommend her appointment as chief justice by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

As the first woman to hold such a position in the country’s history, it seems like a reward for a judge who stayed away from controversy.

However, the position itself is increasingly the focus of political contention, as is the entire legal system, part based on Roman-Dutch and part on English jurisprudence.

Since the multi-party negotiations of 1992/93, some radical elements have been criticising those political agreements, along with the resulting constitution, as effectively entrenching land theft and other colonial-era excesses, as well as the apartheid race-based system which shaped the modern urban landscapes of this still-divided country.

Read: Deep-rooted graft tops list for South Africa ‘failing state’

But these voices were drowned out by the vast majority’s acceptance of a new deal in what has been the ‘land of apartheid’, the biases embedded in an inherited legal system being left to post-apartheid administrations to sort out.

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But for the likes of former president Jacob Zuma and his newly minted uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party, only a complete rewrite of the entire structure of the law is sufficient.

Zuma himself is still facing 783 counts of fraud, corruption and money laundering charges arising from alleged kickbacks during a late 1990s arms deal.

But he is desperate to have both the ‘Eurocentric’ laws of South Africa changed, and the negotiated constitution thrown out just as much as he demands a reversion to something akin to slightly modernised traditional tribal law.  Recently, the courts struck his name off the ballot over his past conduct including a jail term her served for contempt of Court.

Along with MK, Julius Malema and his Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have blown hot and cold over South Africa’s legal structures.

Malema and a few of his close lieutenants have also come in for legal scrutiny over possible state capture-style graft, or other alleged improprieties.

At one point, the EFF, which is overtly Pan-Africanist, was arguing against its own policies when anti-immigrant sentiments were running high amid further bouts of violent xenophobia.

Read: Mandela vision of Black unity fades as SA shuts door to migrants

The Party argued that the bar for successful amnesty applications was too low, and too many people were being allowed into the country.

The EFF stand seems more closely related to direct effects of the law on the party leaders than any underlying ideological issues, though it maintains a strong line that should it gain power, it will wield existing and any new laws with vigour, believing in the centralisation of power in a Marxist-Leninist state system.

Both MK and the EFF also say they want all major industries nationalised.

Put together, these two political alignments could garner at least a quatre of the vote in the elections due on Wednesday next week, according to latest opinion polls.

That may not be a direct or immediate threat to South Africa’s current legal framework.

However, there is a growing populist sentiment that ‘old colonial laws and systems must go’, even though most of those supporting such calls have little idea of the implications.

Outgoing Chief Justice Raymond Zondo was something of a ‘controversial’ choice, when appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in April 2022, despite being ‘next in line’ as Deputy Chief Justice.

This was due to his four-year stint as chair of the commission of inquiry into state capture graft, ironically signed into law by then outgoing president Zuma as one of his last official acts before being forced to resign by his own ruling African National Congress (ANC) party in 2018.

That means that Justice Maya’s new heights bring her the task of managing the politics related to the calls for a change in legal framework, together with the potential legal drams that may ensue over which way to go about change.  

Born in March 1964 in the then apartheid-era ‘black homeland’ of Transkei, now the Eastern Cape province, Mandisa Muriel Lindelwa Maya was appointed Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa soon after missing out on the top slot in 2022 to Justice Zondo. 

She has had a stellar career from humble beginnings and was formerly the president of the Supreme Court of Appeal from 2017 to 2022.

Initially a prosecutor and state law adviser, she was admitted as an advocate in 1994. 

Former president Thabo Mbeki appointed her to the Supreme Court of Appeal in June 2006. In the appellate court, she was elevated to the deputy presidency in September 2015 and the presidency in May 2017.

She was the first black woman to serve in the Supreme Court of Appeal, as well as the court’s first woman deputy president and first woman president.

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