Allexer Namundjembo
A pride of nine lions has been roaming freely in villages in the Judea Lyamboloma Constituency in the Zambezi region in the past days.
According to the constituency councillor Divai Humphrey, the situation has caused fear in the community and frustration over what the locals say is a lack of action from the authorities.
“A pride of nine lions is believed to be on the loose, terrorising communities and preying on livestock. In the morning when I spoke to one of the villagers, seven livestock had been killed by the said lions, but I believe the number has since increased,” Humphrey stated.
Since last week, residents in the surrounding villages of Ngonga have reported sightings of the lions even during the day.
On Sunday, 6 April, the lions were sighted in the villages within the Ngonga area.
According to Humphrey, the Ministry of Environment was informed, but no measures have been taken to track or eliminate the lions.
“This matter was reported to the nearest conservancy as well as to other relevant authorities. However, I have come to understand that there has been a lack of urgency or interest on the part of those authorities. Attempts to obtain a comment from them proved futile when I tried to reach them by telephone,” he added.
He said the situation has become concerning, especially the safety of schoolchildren who walk to school early in the morning.
“We all know lions cannot be domesticated, and these ones are not hiding. They come close to the villages in broad daylight. Lions are wild animals with instincts, and they are capable of inflicting serious injuries or even causing deaths,” Humphrey stressed.
A resident of the Ngoma village, Amon Sitali, said around seven lions had killed five of his cattle.
“When the ministry officials arrived, I was hoping they would eliminate the lions, but all they did was take photographs of my dead livestock and then leave. There was no effort made to track the lions, even though they were still in the vicinity. I am very disappointed because, for the safety of my livestock, the lions should have been put down,” Sitali said.
Another resident, Moscow Mawaya, expressed similar dissatisfaction, claiming that 26 lions have been roaming freely since last week.
Despite several attempts to seek help, Mawaya said the ministry failed to provide assistance.
“Just last night, those lions were seen near my homestead, surrounding a kraal. The community is in distress, not only because of our livestock being killed but also because our children are at risk on their way to school. Farmers in the area managed to kill one lion after the ministry officials told us we could not kill them unless it was just one,” Mawaya said.
The community also attempted to contact the rangers assigned to the area but received no response.
“We reached out to the conservancy, and when they eventually arrived, all they did was fire warning shots in the air to try to scare the lions away. Rangers from Ngenda told us that they could not come earlier because they had no petrol,” Mawaya explained.
Al Sitwala, a representative of the Ministry of Environment in the Zambezi Region, claimed that the ministry had not been made aware of the ongoing issue.
“We were not briefed about that, but I will follow up with the councillor to get more details,” Sitwala said.
In a related incident, two wardens from the Ministry of Environment’s Ondangwa regional office were injured and hospitalised in Tsumeb after being attacked by a lion.
Community members later killed the animal.
The lion had also been reported for preying on livestock in that area.
