Chronicle Editor
Bongani Ndlovu, Chronicle Reporter
MBUNDANE is an area close to the city of Bulawayo but the residents experience a rural lifestyle, with people there having gone for close to 15 years without running water.
It falls under Umguza district of Matabeleland North.
On a visit to Mbundane yesterday morning, it was business as usual, as women with children in tow, were carrying buckets and containers some pushing wheelbarrows as they made their way to and from the nearest borehole.
Several houses have tanks for those privileged enough to have sunk a borehole, or those who buy bulk water for use in their households. The houses, some at different stages of completion, have small Blair toilets outside.
At the communal borehole which has a bush pump, everyone in the community is free to get water.
There is a queue of 20-litre buckets and containers that are being filled up, while one female teenager works the pump.
This is one of the boreholes that is used by the community for free and is accessible to those who do not have money to pay for borehole maintenance.
One woman there, who identified herself as NaPinky said she has collected water for the past five years, ever since she started lodging in the area.
“There are boreholes but those are said to have people who own them. Some people came together and contributed to the drilling of the boreholes.
Then those people pay a certain fee, I believe it’s R20 per month for its upkeep. So, if you aren’t from that area, then you aren’t allowed to fetch water there. this is why we are here at this communal borehole,” NaPinky said.
“In a day we use about 100 litres, for bathing, washing and cooking for our families. This is like five buckets, so if you don’t have the patience to be here, then you can go and buy water from some houses in the suburb. They charge R2 a bucket and that is too expensive for us.”
At the borehole, there is a small pit that has been dug to collect excess water, and this is used to water gardens.
“We have small vegetable gardens, so we take this water that is collected there and we use the water to water our plants. Nothing goes to waste, because those gardens are the same that will give us relish to feed our families,” said NaPinky.
About a kilometre from the borehole, there is a house in the suburb where there is a tank and water is sold by the bucket.
There, Ms Samantha Tshuma said the water is drawn from a borehole that was sunk at the house some years ago.
“We sell water for ZW$100 or R2. there are people who haven’t paid for borehole maintenance so they come here and buy water. We are busy during weekends, and also in the morning and evening, there will be people buying water,” said Ms Tshuma.
She said the demand has gone down as there was another borehole that was sunk nearby.
Another resident in the area Mr Bhekani Ncube, who has been living in Mbundane since 2011 said apart from water, some of them have no electricity and sewerage system.
“We have to pay for everything. Right now, we are contributing R1 000 per household for a sewer system that will be installed. On top of that, for us who don’t have electricity, we must contribute US$40 per household and buy the tubing and all,” said Mr Ncube.
He said the pressure on residents was too much due to lack of services.
Online Reporter