• Government has engaged ZNS to identify and collect all illegally harvested Mukula logs laying across the country.
• The exercise will run from 1st November, 2023 to 20th November, 2023.
• Once the illegally harvested Mukula logs have been forfeited to the State, the auctioning will be done at each ZNS Collection Centre.

Minister of Green Economy and Environment has disclosed that Government has engaged Zambia National Service (ZNS) to identify and collect all illegally harvested Mukula logs laying across the country from 1st to 20th November, 2023, on behalf of the Forestry Department.

In a statement, Collins Nzovu revealed that after completion of the Mukula mopping exercise, the Forestry Department, will immediately engage Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to institute forfeiture proceedings to forfeit the illegally harvested logs to the State in accordance with the relevant applicable laws, within two weeks from the completion of the mop up exercise.

Engineer Nzovu explained that once the illegally harvested Mukula logs have been forfeited to the State, a Special Committee of Survey will undertake to value the said logs after which, the auctioning of the forfeited logs will be done at each ZNS Collection Centre to ensure a fair and transparent way of disposing off the logs.

“The exercise to mop up all illegally harvested Mukula logs across the country will run from 1st November, 2023 to 20th November, 2023. Members of the public are encouraged to cooperate with personnel from the Zambia National Service as they go around identifying and collecting the said Mukula logs for their eventual transportation to and deposition at Satellite/Collection Centres. The Satellite/Collection Centres will exclusively be managed by the Zambia National Service.”

“The official Satellite/Collection Centres are Luamfumu, ZNS Camp Luapula, Mangango, ZNS Camp Western province, Mpika, ZNS Camp, Muchinga Province, Kasama, ZNS Camp Northern, Nyimba, ZNS Camp, Eastern province and Livingstone, ZNS Camp in Southern province,” Engineer Nzovu explained.

He added that the process will ultimately limit fraud and other illegalities, thereby maximising local benefits in the trade and export of indigenous tree species, warning that the law will take its course on anyone that will prevent or attempt to prevent ZNS from collecting or confiscating illegally harvested Mukula Logs.

“Addressing these illegalities will in the long term benefit the timber loggers, merchants and local communities as we focus more on timber value addition for maximum financial returns,” he added.

On 10th October 2021, Government declared a ban on harvesting and trading in Mukula which has remained in effect to date, to pave way for a more transparent and beneficial system that not only favours the timber loggers but merchants and Government as well.

With the ban in place, the already harvested illegal Mukula logs remain unattended to at various locations across the country.

According to Government, it has continued losing revenue through fraudulent sales, wrong declarations and smuggling of various illegally harvested tree species.