Water woes hit Nkayi villagers
Thabo Moyo
VILLAGERS of Nkuba, in Nkayi, are now forced to compete with livestock such as cattle and donkeys for water in a nearby river as the only source of drinking water continues to dry up before the rainy season commences.
Nkayi is generally a dry area that is situated in the Matabeleland North Province of Zimbabwe. The area is categorised under Region Three of the natural farming regions of Zimbabwe, where rainfall is erratic but heavy when it occurs. The region is mainly characterised by two farming activities namely cattle rearing and maize farming. Maize is the staple crop of Zimbabwe.
Tshangane river is the main source of water for livestock and communities in the Nkuba area and surrounding villages but the river is, however, fast dwindling as summer temperatures continue to soar with each passing day.
Angelina Mlilo, a villager who had come to the river from her homestead about six kilometres away to fetch water in a 20 litre plastic bucket said villagers have resorted to digging wells on the dry river bed for safe water to drink.
“We dig the wells on the river at night then come back early in the morning to fetch the water in buckets to take home for drinking and cooking.
As you can see there is still water on the other side of the bridge but it’s too dirty for us to drink. We are now competing for water with cattle and donkeys. We don’t have boreholes so our only option is to dig wells in the river in search of water,” said Mlilo.
Another villager Thabani Fuzane said they cannot wait for the rainy season to start as the water crisis worsens.
“The area receives very little rainfall but we can’t wait for the rainy season to start. Very soon our cattle and donkeys will have no water to drink and they will start dying. We expect the rains to start around late October but the weather patterns have been changing a lot in the last 10 years so we might receive the first rains late, maybe in November,” said Mr Fuzane.
The effects of climate change have not spared the villagers of Nkayi and other communities in Matabeleland North and South Provinces.
Climate change is threatening the viability of the agricultural sector and general access to water for human consumption and for livestock.
Drought prone areas such as Nkayi are increasingly getting hotter and drier every year and villagers find themselves at the receiving end of continuous water shortages.
