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The precious liquid has remained scarce in most rural Matabeleland South areas forcing people to travel long distance in search of water. Image by Elliot Siamonga | The Patriot
by Lizwe Sebatha
In parts of rural Matabeleland South, washing hands to prevent the spread of COVID-19 seems unrealistic. Water to drink for both people and livestock is scarce, for these villages, water is used by political leaders as a campaigning tool and nothing comes from it.
MATOBO, September 9, 2020. (The Citizen Bulletin) — A COMBINATION of broken or drying boreholes and wells has made life unbearable for villagers in rural Maphisa, Matobo district, Matabeleland South.
This comes at the backdrop of the Coronavirus pandemic where health experts emphasize constant washing of hands.
Now stranded with no water, Herman Ncube, a villager from Sigangatsha area, in Matobo says the entire village has to travel as much as 15-20 kilometres a day in search of the precious liquid.
In several instances, the water from the few available sources will be muddied by thirsty livestock.
“Water is a serious challenge, particularly during this season, when wells and boreholes have dried up,” Ncube says.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), hand hygiene is one of the most effective ways of reducing the spread of pathogens and preventing infections, including COVID-19, the disease caused by the Coronavirus.
Daily water woes present a major challenge in the fight against the global pandemic as villagers in Matobo district now resort to drinking muddy water from drying-up wells.
In areas such as St Josephs, Malaba, Simphathe, Tshelanyemba, Silawa and Homestead, villagers are restricted to four 25-litre buckets per household at the few operational boreholes, says Newman Moyo, a resident of Mafuyana in Maphisa.
“From Mkuwa to Sontala and Mbembeswana the situation is the same in the district where deep wells and boreholes have dried up.”
Sanders Siziba, Maphisa rural district council chairperson and ward 4 councillor
The communities' wells and boreholes are seasonal resulting in villagers and livestock being driven for much as 30km in search of water.
The water crisis is not isolated to Maphisa as Plumtree, Kezi and Gwanda rural face similar challenges resulting from unfavorable climate changes. Villagers in Mkhaya and Macingwana villages in Mangwe are already travelling as much as 5 km in search of water.
“Surface sources have literally dried up in most areas while the remaining expected to be wiped soon due to large numbers of animals focusing on the remaining dams,” says Norman Mpofu, former Bulilima East legislator.
In Gwanda, the worst affected areas are Ntalale and Gobadema, says Bekezela Maduma Fuzwayo, spokesperson of the Gwanda Residents Association.
“Our major problem in Gwanda is that we have no water catchment methods in place. For example, a river as big as Tuli River flows through the whole district with no major dam tapping the water,” Fuzwayo says.
“The Tuli Manyange Dam has been an election campaigning issue since time immemorial and nothing is coming up on the project but if completed it's the biggest solution to the water problem in the district.”
The Tuli Manyange Dam site, south of Gwanda, Zimbabwe with a capacity of 33 million cubic metres. Image by Chibi Kandori | Wikipedia
While climate change induced drought is cited as the main reason for the water challenges in Matabeleland South, councils face accusations of failing to desilt dams, resulting in the current water challenges.
“Most dams are old. They are now shallow due to siltation. Their capacities are greatly reduced. This makes these communities suffer water shortages every year irrespective of rainfall amount,” Fuzwayo argues.
“There is a need to scoop most dams and remove silt to restore water carrying capacities.”
Mpofu says more boreholes need to be drilled and broken ones fixed to ease the situation amid COVID-19.
“An inventory of these boreholes needs to be urgently done and serious efforts made to get them repaired,” he says.
Maphisa district council chairperson however, says there are no resources to undertake such projects, forcing councils to turn to non-governmental organisations for assistance.
Local Government minister July Moyo says the government has released ZWL$2.9 billion for water provision projects in rural areas to ensure communities in the countryside are in a position to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They (councils) must channel all the funds (their allocation) towards drilling boreholes and maintenance of water supply equipment so that people have access to safe drinking water,” Moyo says.
For many villagers, life is now about enduring the painful search for water until the next rainy season. Washing hands to minimise the spread of COVID-19 is a pipedream.
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