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George Maponga Features’ Writer
More than two months after the Tokwe-Mukosi flood victims were relocated from the Chingwizi Camp to their permanent plots in Mwenezi, the situation remains grim as they try to restore normalcy to their battered lives. More than 3 000 families were displaced from the Tokwe-Mukosi flood basin following heavy rains that pounded Zimbabwe in the last rainy
season.
The flood victims were allocated plots in the Nuanetsi Ranch.
However, life for the flood victims remains desperate as the families are not sure of what fate holds for them after tumultuous months laced with despair, desolation and strife in the wake of rampaging floods in the Tokwe-Mukosi basin.
Having withstood the rigours of relocation from the flooded basin where they lost their property ranging from livestock to homes and furniture, the flood victims thought they had seen the worst of it when they spent a taxing six months holed up at Chingwizi transit camp.
Life at the camp was far from normal for the flood victims who had to contend with the spectre of disease caused by overcrowding and battling with a crippling shortage of food and basic necessities such as potable water.
After braving the entire winter season in the crowded camp where they weathered the storm, they expected a change of fortune when they were eventually relocated to their one-hectare plots in July this year.
The situation, however, remains bad for most of the families despite moving to more spacious plots away from the heavily populated Chingwizi camp.
The families are still grappling with the familiar challenges but only in a different setting.
Shortage of clean drinking water remains a challenge for the families. Many have run out of food. There are amenities such as clinics and schools for their children.
To add to their plight, the families do not have secure shelter as their makeshift huts are either covered by worn out polythene tents or poll and daga huts with scanty overhead thatch due to shortages of grass in the area. With the rains approaching, they anticipate disaster once more.
The families also say Government has not yet given them the nod to build permanent homes because authorities want their new houses to follow a linear pattern.
The families and their properties have been exposed to the dangers they face when the rains fall in a few weeks time.
According to Ms Svodai Chingoma many families fear the oncoming rains will obliterate the few inroads they had made towards normalising their lives after the disaster in March this year.
“Unless something happens and we receive additional tents from Government or donors or at least get grass for thatching our huts, the coming rains will leave us worse off because most of our huts are covered by old and worn out tents that we were using at Chingwizi camp.
“It is difficult to find grass for thatching huts here because there are no grasslands save for Mopane woodlands. The thatching grass can be found at neighbouring farms but it is against the law of trespassing and some have been arrested by security guards manning those farms,” said Ms Chingoma.
She said Government and donor organizations can save the families if they distribute more tents ahead of the impending rains.
“There is a real risk that the few belongings we were left with after leaving our original homes in the basin will also be destroyed because the huts we are currently staying in cannot shield us from the rains.”
Mrs Sostina Chamakamba says Government should be prepared for another major humanitarian disaster at Nuanetsi Ranch unless the relocated families get shelter.
She accused authorities of dragging their feet in showing in allocating the families of their permanent homes.
“We are in a quandary because it does not make any sense to invest in a structure while fully aware that the structure in question will be pulled down again. Authorities said we could build temporary structures to stay in the interim while identification of the area designated for our permanent homes is underway.
“We are still waiting but we hear they want us to build our new homes in a linear pattern,” she said.
The Nuanetsi Ranch is also extremely dry because of stratospheric temperatures that cause seasonal streams and small rivers to dry up fast.
This leaves humans and animals in the area short of water.
Government and its development partners drilled 34 boreholes to ease water shortages with more boreholes being drilled.
The shortage of water has however put extreme pressure on boreholes and families have to wake up at 3am every day to queue for water.
Mrs Ellen Dzingirai says looking for water to drink and cooking is a nightmare reminding her of the infamy days of the overcrowded Chingwizi Camp where portable water was virtually a treasure.
“Every day we wake up at around 3am to be the first in line to fetch water. Most of the boreholes are almost dried up because the water table is now further down owing to high temperatures and demand. To make matters worse the water is salty and presents a lot of problems to use for domestic purposes,” she said.
Government and its social partners, she argues, should sink more boreholes to stop human and animals from competing for the scarce commodity.
“We are sharing water with our livestock because it is scarce here and authorities must drill more boreholes so that we walk short distances for water,” she said.
With the imminent rainy season, very few families have draught power to till the virgin land in the Nuanetsi Ranch to grow their crops.
Most of the livestock, principally cattle, is in bad shape because of shortage of grazing pastures and water.
The livestock is also barely managing to acclimatise to the harsh weather conditions in the Lowveld.
Government has however started setting up schools, and other amenities in the area but the magnitude of the infrastructural developments is too small while the process is sluggish.
Three primary schools, Tokwe-Mukosi, Chingwizi and Nyuni and a secondary, Nyuni, have already opened their doors to hundreds of pupils. The children however walk distances of up to 20km to the schools.
Villagers say there is need to increase the schools in the area to stop their children from spending most of their time on the road to or from school.
“My two children walk a distance of 20 kms to travel to and from Nyuni Secondary school every day and this means they have to wake up as early as 4am to start their journey so that they get to school on time.
“We appeal to Government to build more schools or even introduce satellite schools so that our children are spared from the painstaking task of walking long distances daily,” said Mr Edward Mutemeri of Paddock Six in the Nuanetsi Ranch.
Civil Protection Unit Masvingo provincial director Mr Felix Chikovo however says the future was bright for the Tokwe-Mukosi flood victims at Nuanetsi noting progress that is being made in building schools, a clinic and sinking of boreholes in the area.
The Masvingo provincial administrator said water shortages in the arid area were temporary while Government was also closely working with donor organisations to improve the standards of living of the families.
Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Kudakwashe Bhasikiti concurred with Mr Chikovo saying the future was bright for the flood victims.
“The number of schools built in an area depends on the pupil population and according to experts in the Ministry of Education the three primary schools and one secondary built at Nuanetsi so far are enough to cater for the pupils who are there.
“We are happy that construction of a state of the art clinic is already underway. All these developments point to a very positive future for the flood victims,” Minister Bhasikiti said.
He said Government and its partners were going to give each household 10kg of seed which is enough to cover the 0,5 hectares each family at Nuanetsi is expected to put under crops to ensure food self-sufficiency after harvesting in the first quarter of next year.
He allayed fears that the impending rains will destroy the families’ makeshift accommodation saying the families were supposed to take advantage of the rich Mopane woodlands in the area to build stronger huts made of pole and daga.
The hundreds of families are increasingly getting desperate following their morale sapping and eventful journey from the Tokwe-Mukosi flood basin via Chingwizi camp.
They are sceptical of a quick restoration of their battered lives further with a growing belief that their hope for a better tomorrow is for now a dream deferred.
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