Access to clean water changes lives in Bulilima

Mthabisi Tshuma

IT’S a sunny Tuesday afternoon amid the thickets of mopane trees and the setting is Mpigamaho village in Bulilima District, Matabeleland South province.

This is the border area between Tsholotsho and Bulilima districts and is separated by the Manzamnyama River.

Mpigamaho village houses the San community found in the far south-western end of Zimbabwe. It is the last human settlement in south-west Zimbabwe and is popularly known as the new line or cut line, which is a boundary that separates human territory from animal territory.

Sounds of a thunderous echo are heard and this terrifying wailing noise has left villagers comparing it to something supernatural.

The sounds are coming from a borehole drilling machine which is making its presence for the first time ever in the area. The huge truck is news in the community as such a development is a first of its kind in the area.

Since they settled in the area, villagers have been sourcing water from rivers and wells. When the rivers start to run dry, they have to dig deeper and in such instances, it will be the start of human-wildlife conflict as they compete for the little water available with animals.

The borehole is not the old hand pump ones but it’s a mechanised one with solar panels and taps.

This is thanks to efforts by Bulilima West constituency legislator Cde Dingumuzi Phuthi who saw it fit to empower villages through access to clean water.

Cde Phuti is the Zanu-PF candidate for the newly-constituted Bulilima Constituency in the 2023 harmonised elections.

During the installation of the solar panels and four taps at the site, villagers could not hide their joy for such a milestone achievement.

One of the villagers, Mr Edmond Nkomo said their lives had been changed for the better as they now have access to clean water.

“We are thankful to our leader for such a visionary approach in changing our lives. Toboka. Such a development has come 43 years after our independence. We thank the ancestors for his appointment. We are hopeful that more developmental projects are coming our way,” said Mr Nkomo.

Another villager, Ms Sithandazile Ncube said the leadership of Cde Phuti shows that he is a foot solider of President Mnangagwa.

“President Mnangagwa has said countless times that no place and no one will be left behind and for Cde Phuti to come and initiate such development to this area shows that he is working with the philosophy of President Mnangagwa in mind. Water is a key component of everyone’s lives and we are happy for such a development,” said Ms Ncube.

The development is not only in Mpigamaho village but significant strides have also been made to improve Madlambudzi, Nyele, Tokwana and Dombodema, which are all in Bulilima.

Cde Phuti said ensuring access to water is part of a raft of strategies that he has been delivering since his election as MP in 2018.

“We implemented this project under our pillar of water and sanitation and it is one of the five pillars that we have been using in our five-year mandate which we are going to carry over into a mandate that we are going to seek from our people. We have done several boreholes across the constituency, most of which are solarised and very sustainable,” said Cde Phuti.

He said efforts are being made to ensure the boreholes create a sustainable source of income for communities.

“Now we want to move to the next level of creating gardens to promote agriculture, in particular horticulture. The projects were targeting communities that have had water problems for many years and in particular communities that people so much thought are on the peripheries and would be difficult to service in any way.

“The Mpigamaho community has no tangible means of production and are often targets of various disasters especially droughts and animal interference, which results in their crops being damaged beyond any possibility to harvest. We went there and gave them a modern solarised borehole and their celebration was that this was the first time they tasted water that is not from the river and wells. They have paid gratitude to President Mnangagwa and this is how much we have tried to impact the lives of our people. We want to try and expand on that programme so that we transform lives and make people aspire to witness the realities of Vision 2030,” said Cde Phuti.

Water is connected to nearly all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and it affects development in every way. It drives economic expansion, helps maintain healthy ecosystems, and is necessary for life itself.

According to statistics, over two billion individuals all over the planet don’t have securely overseen drinking water administrations, 3,6 billion people do not have safely managed sanitation services, and 2,3 billion lack basic hand-washing facilities.

Gaps in access to water supply and sanitation, growing populations, more water-intensive patterns of growth, increasing rainfall variability, and pollution are combining in many places to make water one of the greatest risks to economic progress, poverty eradication and sustainable development.

In today’s interconnected and rapidly changing world, such stress has local, national, transboundary, regional, and global consequences. The poorest and most vulnerable bear the brunt of the consequences more than others. – @mthabisi_mthire