Chronicle Editor
Uzile Mkwananzi, Sunday News Reporter
VILLAGERS in Mangwe District in Matabeleland South Province are basking in the comfort of having water close to their homes with piped water schemes having been set in 20 wards while 580 sponsored latrines have been constructed.
The rural district council has been working on achieving its targets for the 2020-2025 water, sanitation and hygiene Wash plan of having at least one functional piped water scheme for every ward.
Speaking to Sunday News in an interview, Mangwe Rural District Council chief executive officer Mr Bongani Ngwenya said they were working on improving accessibility of water in the communities.
“We are currently working on the 2020-2025 water, sanitation and hygiene (Wash) plan where we are looking forward to having at least one functional piped water scheme with a coverage of at least five kilometres each per ward.
“We have managed to do this in 20 wards, some of which are Isilima and Xhaphozini in Ward 13, Osabeni and Vaka piped water schemes in Ward 2 just to mention a few,” said Mr Ngwenya.
He also said water coverage was now at 85 percent while sanitation coverage was at 65 percent. The council has also managed to drill 27 boreholes.
“We have environmental health technicians who do quarterly water tests for bacteriological and chemical coliforms every year to make sure that water is safe for use. On sanitation, the district has 580 sponsored latrines constructed where vulnerable households were given five bags of cement.”
The RDC has also set piped water schemes in Makorokoro and Silima while dip wells and sand abstraction are still being used at Sanzukwi Primary School, Hobodo Primary and Embakwe. They also have seasonal shallow wells.
“We are working on new dam construction projects such as the Karikobho Dam in Ward 3. There are also new proposed dam sites from ward plans.
“There are plans in place to identify high yielding boreholes for mechanisation while continuous rehabilitation and repair of existing ones and drilling of new ones is in motion,” said Mr Ngwenya.
He said the RDC was working with other organisations and the Government to address water supply challenges in the district.
“To address water challenges, there is the District Water and Sanitation Sub-Committee (DWSSc) which is a sub-committee of council. This committee brings on board all Government departments, NGOs which are into water, sanitation and hygiene activities so that their efforts are guided towards addressing a common goal.
“The collaboration with other stakeholders to address water challenges are embedded in the RDC strategic plan to improve water, sanitation and hygiene through engaging development partners, mobilizing communities to produce water, sanitation and hygiene plans and working closely with grassroots governance structures such as village water and sanitation sub-committee,” he said.
He added that the RDC was the anchor of development and collaborates well with Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (Rida) dealing with water supply, environmental health technician department (EHT) responsible for water quality monitoring, sanitation and hygiene and NGOs that usually finances the projects.
Mr Ngwenya said in upcoming projects, they were prioritising areas that still faced challenges with water supply and sanitation.
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