Water hyacinth has haunted Zimbabwe for decades

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AA) - A carpet of water hyacinths spreads on the surface of Lake Chivero just about 300 meters away from Harare Safari Lodge by the lakeside.

It is the same story at the Cleveland Dam in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare.

This comes as the globe commemorates World Oceans Day, an international day that takes place annually on June 8, set by the UN.

The concept of World Oceans Day was originally proposed in 1992 by Canada's International Centre for Ocean Development and the International Oceans Institute of Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

- Hyacinth hits fishermen

Now with the growing amount of hyacinths strewn on water bodies, for fishermen in Zimbabwe like 30-year-old Tinago Bere and 28-year-old Taurai Mutata, business is in the negative.

For them, catching fish in the midst of the increasing amount of water hyacinths has turned out to be a nightmare.

“There are now little fish that we catch because the hyacinth is hampering our efforts as it covers all reachable portions in the lake where we can throw in our bait to catch the fish and the fish don’t dwell where there are hyacinths,” Bere told Anadolu Agency.

At Cleveland Dam, Mutata, who busied himself fishing, was a disappointed man.

“Even frogs are avoiding these hyacinths. Every fish is drifting away from the hyacinths and it means hunger for me, since I won’t be able to catch much to sell and feed my family,” he told Anadolu Agency.

With hyacinths on the prowl across Zimbabwe’s water bodies, the fishermen have not been spared by poverty.

“I used to catch about a whole 20-liter bucket of fish each week, but that is a thing of the past as I sometimes go back home with nothing at all as the water hyacinth has chased away most of the fish,” Bere said.

Yet even as it is landlocked, Zimbabwe’s water bodies such as Cleveland Dam and rivers and lakes like Chivero have for decades suffered from the presence of water hyacinths.

Hyacinths are perennial, free-floating aquatic plants covering water surfaces, which experts have said is a huge problem affecting living organisms.

“The hyacinth, which has gained notoriety, completely covers lakes and wetlands as it competes with native aquatic species, thereby reducing oxygen levels for fish and as a result creating environments conducive for disease-carrying mosquitoes,” Nicole Muhacha, a Harare-based ecologist, told Anadolu Agency.

- Hyacinths and boats

Many holidaymakers like 34-year-old Lemson Dhamba, a boat cruising fanatic, said he finds water hyacinths rather irritating each time he takes his boat to Lake Chivero, the closest big lake to his Harare home.

“With water hyacinths particularly all over Lake Chivero, in my case, each time I use my boat to cruise, I don’t do so comfortably because I would be unsure whether or not I would be sailing into safe zones in water because the hyacinths will be blocking waterways and limiting boat traffic,” Dhamba told Anadolu Agency.

- Malaria

With hyacinths particularly blamed for Zimbabwe’s continuing battle against malaria, the Ministry of Health has gone on record as saying that in one of the worst malaria breakouts, there was an excess of over 30,000 malaria cases from January to June 2020.

Even the natural ecosystem has not been spared by the water hyacinth, according to Muhacha.

“The water hyacinth impacts heavily on the ecosystem as it affects the general nutrient composition, leading to the disappearance of some of the plant species or animal species which depend on plants affected by water hyacinths,” said Muhacha.

A retired high school geography teacher in Harare, 67-year-old Vambirai Murambwi, blamed water hyacinths for the growing deaths of numerous aquatic plants the world over.

“Globally, the water hyacinth is notorious for its quick growth, forming very thick layers on top of water either in dams, lakes or rivers, consequently shading out other aquatic plants, which as a result eventually perish and rot away,” Murambwi told Anadolu Agency.

Desperate to please their customers like Dhamba, who has relied on Zimbabwe’s waters to cruise with his boat, park workers like Menard Mucherahonye in Harare said they find it difficult to tame the water hyacinth.

- Zero solution

Water experts like Melford Mukanga in Harare admitted they have no solution to the growing problems imported by the water hyacinth.

“I can only tell you that this country recorded its first water hyacinth around 1971 and 1972 in Lake Chivero, but there has not been any ultimate solution to defeat this challenge,” Mukanga told Anadolu Agency.

In fact, the water hyacinth plague on Lake Chivero, supplying water to Harare, was only controlled and fell from 42% in 1976 to 22% in 2000 before it started picking up again.

Many like Bere and Mutata, the fishermen, as well as Dhamba, the boat-cruising devotee, are now paying the price. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​