Siavonga water blues worsen
A CRITICAL water shortage has hit most parts of Simaamba Chiefdom in Siavonga District, forcing many villagers to start drinking water from shallow wells as all the boreholes in the area have dried up.
Former UPND District Chairman for Siavonga, Jelly Kapalangwe who raised alarm about the situation has since called on Government to declare the water crisis in the area as a disaster so as to save the people and their domestic animal from dying of thirst.
He said at Kariba store area only one borehole is able to discharge a little water and peple have to wake up at around 03:00 hours to lineup for the scarce commodity while domestic animals such as goats have started dying from dehydration.
"Our country was only going to be better if we had people with advocacy skills to push our leaders to deliver on their promises. Zambian leaders have little sense of self-volition .... once there, they forget why people elected them," he said.
He expressed sadness that 53 year after independence, people in the area are still without reliable water supply despite having paved way for the construction of Kariba Dam, which is Africa's largest fresh water reservoir.
He said people in the area have for a long time been crying for clean piped water but that all their cries have fallen on deaf ears. "The People have been subjected to the most dehumanizing and degrading environment by all standards. Who will hear and listen to their cries?"
He accused the current leadership at the District of concentrating on politicking at the expense providing water to the people who voted for them.
"As local leadership our effort should be to mitigate this problem but what is happening now is that every Jim and Jake is positioning himself for 2021 when they are supposed to be finding a solution to the water problem that has befallen the people of Simaamba," he said.
Mr Kapalangwe said the water crisis in Simaamba is quickly turning into a humanitarian crisis for the people and especially that they have no access to any water field.
He called on the DMMU under the vice President's office to immediately deploy water bowsers to the area in order to mitigate the effects of water problem for the villagers.