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Flora Fadzai Sibanda, florafadzaisibz@gmail
MR Mkhulunyelwa Nkomo, a businessman from Bulilima Mangwe district, has acquired a drilling rig to drill boreholes for people in his district.
Focusing mostly on making water available for his community in a bid to improve hygiene and reduce the risk of diseases, the businessman said the equipment will make it easy for people in his district to get their own source of water without waiting for contractors outside the region.
With the water crisis still critical even in rural areas most villagers are still walking long distances to get clean water and as a result, some end up resorting to clean unsafe water.
Hundreds of villagers were gathered at his home as he showed them the machine that is expected to make their access to water better.
Women ululated while men whistled and danced around singing happily when Mr Nkomo revved his machine showing everyone how it was going to benefit the community members.
When women heard the sound, they broke into song and dance.
Mr Nkomo said the borehole rig arrived in the country two weeks ago from China.
“After realising how bad the water situation is in our district l decided to get a borehole rig. It is not mine alone but it is for the whole community because it is going to be in service for everyone else. It’s been three years now since l started saving money for this rig and because l m a business person l had to make some tough decisions so the money would all come along like selling some of my livestock,” he said.
Mr Nkomo said he had realised that most people who are contracted to drill boreholes for people in his district are from other provinces and they sometimes take time as they will be contracted in other areas.
He said now sure that since he has obtained a rig he is sure villagers will be able to get their boreholes drilled and cheaper because there will no extra charges for transport.
“The goal is to make sure by next year most households in our district will be having clean water,” he said.
Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister for ICT and postal services Dingumuzi Phuti applauded Mr Nkomo for buying the rig.
He said Mr Nkomo has helped the Government in achieving the national development strategy 1 in the branch of water and sanitation.
“It is worth noting that you have worked hard in supporting the Government because we recently commissioned a rig in Tshintshila in Mangwe district and when you saw the Government had bought a rig that was supposed to service the whole of Matabeleland you decided to get another one which will make the work easy for the people in this province and the Government,” said deputy minister Phuti.
One of the villagers, Mr Edward Dube said he was happy with what Mr Nkomo had done.
He said it was worth noting that Mr Nkomo had said he was going to come up with affordable charges for people in his district.
“(Mr) Nkomo said as villagers we can all come up with payment plans, which might include trading with cattle for a borehole to be drilled. For me, and l am sure many other villagers this is a good deal which will ensure we all get water,” said Mr Dube.
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