OSHAKATI – Desperate farmers in the Omusati Region are seeking permission from Nature Conservation officials to fight elephants that are destroying their mahangu fields and threatening the lives of villagers.

According Iiyambo Nekwaya, a retired school principal from Onandjandja of Uukolonkadhi area, who is now farming mahangu, he and four other farmers had their fields completely destroyed by the elephants and because of that, their harvests will be affected.

“We have the guns, all we need is their (Nature Conservation) permission to kill those elephants before they hurt human beings,” said Nekwaya.

According to Nekwaya, the villagers’ attempts to get Nature Conservation officials to drag the elephants out of the village proved futile, while it took the elephants two consecutive weeks to completely destroy more than five crop fields.

Villagers allegedly informed Nature Conservation officials about the elephants on several occasions but to no avail.

“When I called them this morning (yesterday) they told me that they had no transport. On Monday they came here but they (officials) left at 21h00 yet we told them that elephants come at midnight. We are now getting fed up because these elephants are not just destroying our crops but our lives are also at risk,” said Nekwaya.

According to Nekwaya, apart from the five mahangu fields, elephants that normally come in groups of 10 to 20 have also destroyed other crop fields at nearby villages.

Chief Warden in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism in the northern regions, Chrispin Nkonkwena, said his office is aware of the elephants at Onandjandja village of the Onesi constituency and officials have been dispatched to that area.

Nkonkwena refuted villagers’ allegations that Nature Conservation officials told them (villagers) that there was no transport, maintaining that it is not true. He also urged villagers not to temper with elephants by shooting at them. “We will do all we can to get the elephants out of the area. But the problem is that some of the farmers have planted watermelons and these attract elephants,” he said.

Nkonkwena also denied that there are crop fields that are completely destroyed, adding that only parts of the fields were destroyed.

“Some of the people that are making such claims are not even in the area and there are those that are harassing my officials while at the same time they do not even own a mahangu field,” he said.