Troubled Nyaminyami: Violent competition, corruption threaten fishing on Lake Kariba

📅 Published: August 21, 2025

Curated by AllZimNews.com

Kariba, the world’s largest man-made lake and reservoir by volume, has been a thriving fishing hub since the dam was filled some 60 years ago.

The fishing industry has now been pushed to the edge due to the drastic reduction in water levels and a plethora of other challenges.

Illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing is one of the significant issues threatening the sustainability of the industry.

Other challenges include overfishing which has led to the collapse of some important fish stocks, and weaknesses in the fisheries management which results in increased us of destructive fishing gear.

Lake Kariba spans Zimbabwe and Zambia and the Zimbabwean shoreline communities include Kariba Town (population: 20000 – 30 000), Binga District (population: 30 000–50000), Siabuwa District (population: 10 000 – 20 000) and Nyaminyami District (population: 10 000 – 20 000).

The notable tribes living on the shores of Kariba are theTonga who are predominantly found in the Binga and Siabuwa areas and the Shona people who are present in Nyaminyami and Kariba areas.

Fishing is the major source of livelihood here although agriculture, livestock and tourism also play a part in the economy of this area.

The receding water levels on Lake Kariba has meant dwindling fishing spaces whose allocation to the growing number of the fishing crews on the lake is now characterized by corruption.

Fishermen have to wrestle for the best fishing territories and often pay ‘tokens’ of between US50 – US$100 to officials responsible for fishing space allocations.

Fishermen said they are fleeced on a daily basis by corrupt officials that are supposed to manage the lake.

Management authority staffers demand bribes to allow them to go about their business. “They take money or part of the crews’ catch especially Kapenta, threatening to throw out vessels for even the slightest or false regulation flouting by fishermen that refuse to play ball,” said Chartwell Tanga, chairperson of Siavonga Fisheries , a Zimbabwean fishing cooperative operating on the lake.

Tanga is also national chairperson of Kapenta Fisheries Association of Zimbabwe.

Siavonga is one of several indigenous companies that catch and dry Kapenta for wholesale mainly to indigenous businesses.

Tanga paints a grim picture of the fishing industry sector on Lake Kariba. “We encounter robberies regularly on these waters, ” he said. “Curiously these robbers always know which vessels would have made good catches.

They rarely strike empty vessels, and this makes us suspicious.