5 communities in the red after dam bursts
DISASTER:
Many people at Ka-Langa community, who depended on the water from the catchment area, left in a state of perplexity about their future survival.
KA-LANGA – A dam burst has left about five communities without portable water and their flourishing fields wilting . This follows that many people at Ka-Langa community, which falls under the Lugongolweni Inkhundla in the Lubombo Region who depended on the water from the catchment area, are now left in a state of perplexity about their future survival.
It is one of the effects of Cyclone Filipo that swept through the eastern part as it landed beyond the shores of Mozambique last month.
The storm felt mostly by the people of the region did a huge damage to the man-made dam place that feeds many as about four communities that depended on the dam’s supply remain in limbo.
As the dam walls burst, almost three quarters of the water it contained permeated through a huge hole.
The water was spilt into the wild vomiting a lot of fish in the process, which became the only comfort to the people. However, the water would never again be seen.
HeadacHe
It is now a headache for many who are predicting a dry winter.
Some people of the surrounding areas such as Michael Dlamini ,who is a farmer, are of the view that they are yet to bear the brunt after last month’s landing of Cyclone Filipo.
The versatile dam, in its glory days, supplied at least 400 people such as Dlamini with fresh water to water their vegetables, which they grow in the community garden.
They have also suffered a double blow; the first being that strong winds defeated the dam’s holding capacity.
When the water let loose it followed the slopes beneath the dam and flooded the garden. Most of the vegetables there were washed away by the rushing floods.
Their livelihoods which were supported by the planting and selling of their produce as they attest that their income came from it remains in doubt.
Dlamini said they could barely recover what remained after the flooding.
Secondly, Dlamini is afraid that if there is no more water from the dam, there would be no more planting in the garden and that food insecurity for the families that made their living from the dam would be worsened.
“We used to supply NAMBoard with green pepper and beetroot. We also sold cabbages and lettuce to the local markets. We are hurt because we have been making a living from it. In the garden there now remains a huge hole which I can’t close,” Dlamini said.
Dlamini narrated and said that they got water from the dam by connecting pipes from the dam and pumped it using a generator to store it in water tanks.
He is afraid that may not be possible as the water levels have drastically been reduced.
Also, during the dry season, the heat would evaporate what remains of the dam.
“We are asking ourselves what to do now,” Dlamini said.
The Ka-Langa Bucopho, Mpendulo Simelane, said the number of people that were impacted by the burst dam kept rising .
consumed
More than the garden farmers, Simelane said there were residents that consumed the water.
“Since I was a young boy, a majority of the people surrounding the dam fetch the water which they use for cooking and drinking.
“The true effects of the spillage are yet to be felt by many people, the cattle and every living being that depended on the dam’s water,” he said.
Also, Simelane said, about five areas brought their cattle to the dam to hydrate. These areas include Malindza, Ka-Langa, Lubhuku, Lukhula and Mvutjini.
Furthermore, children who go to school at Matsetsa,
Ka-Langa, Mpaka and Ndzangu schools were affected in that they were not able to go to school as streams were overflowing.
Moreover, the water for the dip tank was also sourced from the dam.
In the same process, pipes are installed and generators are used to pump in the water from the dam.
PurPoses
The bucopho said there was a high level of poverty in the area and that the dam served many purposes including affording people access to water .
Simelane said while development in the form of availing tap water eventually came, most were battling with paying monthly bills to the Eswatini Water Services Corporation (EWSC).
“How can an elderly woman who gets E500 grant to buy food and everything be able to pay for tap water where when you skip your monthly bill you are disconnected? Some homesteads have taps in their yards but they no longer work,” Simelane said.
Simelane said the leakage of the dam had never occurred in over three decades since he was a minor child. Simelane said the dam was constructed as a catchment area and it had been holding still .
However, he said, two years ago, it started showing damage and this was allegedly reported to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.
Simelane was supported by former Bucopho Elias Mbekwa Maziya who said while the people attempted to fix the dam on their own some advised against it.
Maziya said along the walls of the bank, there were sacks filled with soil with the attempt to raise the wall and reduce the spillage.
“It has been raining in this season. However when the rains end, we do not know what will become of us,” he said.
Maziya said before the dam was built people walked many kilometres to Magcebesha or Mvuntjini to take their cattle to drink.
He also said that the distance that they will again have to take might lead to increased number of cases of stock theft.
“We now pray that the rains do
not come again.
Pray
“This is against that many people generally pray for rains.
“It is because we know the effects of the rains. We will not be able to cross over,” he said.
Lugongolweni Member of Parliament (MP), Joseph Souza said interventions were being made for the people of the inkhundla.
Souza said boreholes were being explored.
He said the process for now was at the data collection phase to ascertain the number of boreholes.
Souza said some of the boreholes were now defunct.
He said it was worrying that people continue to consume the water from the dam as the water is now not clean. “We are worried that if there are people who continue to consume the water, they could get cholera,” he said.
The legislator said many people were impacted, especially those who were participating in the community garden.
He said it was true that many benefitted from the garden and they were able to supply the surroundings with vegetables while also making a living out of it.