No permission needed to build at Vic Falls site, says Kaingu

By Mutale Kapekele and Namakau Nalumango
The Post Wednesday March 12, 2008

THERE is no need to get permission from Zimbabwe to build in the Victoria Falls heritage site joint management area, tourism minister Michael Kaingu has said.

And Kaingu has appointed a new national Museums Board to be chaired by Mubita Imukue.

Asked whether the ministry of tourism had consulted its Zimbabwean counterpart on the allocation of a plot to Legacy Holdings on the fringes of the joint management area, Kaingu said the plot was in Zambia and that his office had no explanations to make.

"Obviously you know where the boundaries of Zambia are, that land is in Zambia not in Zimbabwe, so why should we ask for permission?" he asked.

In October, the ministries of tourism in the two countries signed a joint management plan of the Victoria Falls world heritage site which stipulated that developments in the area had to be passed by both Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Legacy Holdings plot lies in the buffer zone of the Victoria Falls world heritage area.

At the signing of the joint management plan last year National Heritage and Conservation Commission director of conservation services Kagosi Mwamulowe said the management plan was needed for UNESCO, Zambia and Zimbabwe to monitor the activities and state of conservation of the Victoria Falls world heritage site.

And Kaingu urged the new museums board to be innovative and raise own money instead of its looking to the government for everything.

He said although his ministry would fund them from time to time, it was not an ultimate responsibility for the government to provide funding to the museums.

"Museums world over are money spinners. Instead of the government funding them, they should be able to contribute to the treasury," he said.

And Imukue called for the repealing of the national museums Act as it catered for only four institutions.

"The Act only caters for Livingstone, Lusaka, Motomoto and the Copperbelt museums," Imukue said. "The other museums which are privately owned are not catered for. Therefore the National museums Act should be repealed and replaced with one that will embrace the rest of the museums."