Chronicle Editor
Phyllis Kachere
Lying in agro-ecological region five characterised by little or no rain, Siansundu and Saba wards in drought-prone Binga District in Matabeleland North located on the country’s northern border with Zambia face a critical water shortage.
The situation has been worsened by the lowering of the water table, which has seen most boreholes in the area drying up.
With experts anticipating drought recurrence in Binga to reach 30 percent increase by 2030 due to climate change, some boreholes and small water bodies have dried up leaving communities in despair in some of the worst affected areas in the Siansundu area under Chief Saba.
The critical water shortage, coupled with constant break downs of the few perennial boreholes due to overuse, had resulted in communities resorting to water rationing where households have had to survive on five buckets per week.
Government, through its auxiliary, the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) in partnership with Finnish Red Cross (FRC) and Danish Red Cross (DRC) is implementing a climate resilience project in Binga.
The programme, which started in 2022 and is expected to be completed in 2025 includes the rehabilitation of 12 boreholes in the Siansundu and Saba wards.
The 12 boreholes (four in Saba and eight in Siansundu) were prioritised after the water and sanitation assessment in April 2023.
The boreholes were rehabilitated as local pump minders led the process, with technical expertise from District Water and Sanitation Sub Committee members.
A jubilant Mrs Maria Milazi (43) from Siansundu Central (Ward 9) shared her joy and relief.
“Our village gets water from Nona Borehole in Siansundu. That borehole services four wards but it broke down due to express use for such a big population and was not repaired for over six months. You can imagine the anguish and pain that the villagers in the four wards with each ward having on average, six villages experienced.
“The breakdown meant that mostly women and girls had to walk long distances in search of water.
Already, we had been rationing use of water due to the high demand. Today, I am happy to tell you that Government sent the Red Cross people to repair the borehole and it’s now functioning properly.”
Mrs Milazi said because of the dangers of wildlife that roams the area, some men from the villages had joined the women and girls in searching for water. “This area is infested with wildlife. For fear of having these women and girls being attacked by wildlife, some men had joined in the search for water,” she said.
In an interview, the ZRCS secretary general, Mr Elias Hwenga said the climate resilience project is targeted at tackling the increased frequency and severity of disasters due to climate change, which predominantly affect vulnerable groups and disrupt food security and livelihoods. “The project’s overarching goal is to boost community resilience via inclusive climate-smart adaptation initiatives. It offers practical methods for implementing climate-smart disaster risk reduction and livelihood activities at the community level. The project has three strategic goals: ensuring people can anticipate, respond to and recover quickly from crises; enabling people to lead safe, healthy and dignified lives with opportunities to prosper; and encouraging people to foster inclusive and peaceful communities.
“This project is crucial given the challenges posed by erratic weather patterns and their impact on communities. These climate changes have heralded disasters that continue to impact negatively on communities and causing serious shortages and lowering livelihood income-generating projects,” said Mr Hwenga.
He said it was against this background that the climate-smart intervention sought to build capacities of targeted communities and institutions to effectively prepare food for, withstand, respond to and recover from climate-induced disasters and crises.
“It will also offer mitigatory measures aimed at addressing the climate change issues. This will largely be achieved by rolling out early warning and early action in the communities.”
Another borehole that was rehabilitated was the Dadalika 2 Borehole, which services 35 villages with an average of 25 households each, two schools and a business centre who had to wait for “only’” five days before they got their turn for five buckets.
“The situation was dire. We would get five buckets after five days. The Mlibizi Dam, a small water body where livestock and wild animals used to water had since dried up. The situation was bad. I had a lactating baby when the borehole broke down and didn’t always have the water to wash his nappies. I could not afford disposable diapers,” said Ms Cecelia Mudhimba.
Mrs Tutembaleza Daidai of Lubanda said the rehabilitated boreholes had brought relief to villagers in her area.
“We are happy now, we have easy access to potable water. With cholera ravaging most districts in Zimbabwe, we are grateful that we have clean water,” said Mrs Daidai.
The situation was the same at Simwenge 1 Borehole, which services 330 households in Siansundu West.
Resident and beneficiary, Mr Charles Mumpande (58) also of Siansundu Central said after the repairs to the 12 boreholes, the solarisation of the Simwenge Borehole should be on course.
“We are happy that Government has heard our plea. The Simwenge Borehole solarisation process has begun and we expect to start a fruit plantation for the community. The solarisation will also result in piped water for most villages.
This is a welcome relief. Our women and girls have suffered enough because of these water challenges.
“I had to personally make a decision to be involved in the borehole repairs because water issues were affecting my family. As men, we always leave water issues to women. But this time, I could not risk that.
This is my life.
“It is a relief that Government is responding to our pleas. Once the boreholes are solarised, we expect the standard of living to improve in our area. Thank you Red Cross for working with us,” said Mr Mumpande.
Mr Hwenga said climate change had aggravated the frequency and magnitude of disasters affecting mostly vulnerable groups, undermining food security while also impacting livelihood activities for most rural communities in Zimbabwe.
“Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), gender equity and climate change issues are inextricably linked. Risks and disasters from climate change particularly threaten the health and rights of girls and women,” said Mr Hwenga.
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