adminGeorge Maponga at CHINGWIZI, in Mwenezi
Government has expressed gratitude to NGOs for their assistance during the Tokwe-Mukosi flood disaster. The floods left over 3 500 families homeless after their houses were submerged in water while household property and livestock worth thousands of dollars were destroyed. Speaking during the handover to Government of a water pumping and purification plant built by Oxfam and Bhaso at Chingwizi temporary camp on Wednesday, Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Cde Kudakwashe Bhasikiti expressed Government’s gratitude.
“We are very grateful to NGOs for the role they played during and after the flooding at Tokwe-Mukosi. They lessened the burden. They also made life easy, even for President Mugabe, because our people managed to escape from the flood basin alive,” he said.
“Government still looks forward to more assistance from NGOs because a lot still needs to be done to make sure the flood victims are properly resettled in permanent settlements and most importantly, that they have irrigation facilities. We want to turn the whole Chingwizi into a greenbelt.”
Cde Bhasikiti said Bhaso and Oxfam played a leading role in providing water and sanitation services and making sure there was no outbreak of diseases at the holding camp.
“It is really difficult to provide clean water and toilet facilities for more than 18 000 people who are staying together.
“We are grateful that there has been no disease outbreaks because of the overcrowding at this camp,” said Cde Bhasikiti.
He said water supplied to Chingwizi families was of high quality.
He assured Chingwizi families that Government would provide enough diesel to pump water to the holding camp. Before the installation of the water pumping and purification plant by Oxfam and Bhaso, families at Chingwizi relied on water from canals which irrigate sugar-cane plantations at Mupapa Estates.
Oxfam country director Mr Augustine Mandigora said the organisation was happy to donate the water equipment to Government.
Water is drawn from a small dam on the outskirts of Chingwizi and is pumped into a 45 000-litre tank installed by Bhaso and Oxfam.
The new pump takes between 25-30 minutes to fill the tank.
The two NGOs also installed a 90 000 litre-tank where treated water is stored together with the conveyance pipes that supply water to the families in the camp.
Chingwizi camp requires about 180 000 litres of water daily and water woes have eased ever since the pumping and purification plant was installed.
Online Reporter