The Sunday News
KUSILE Rural District Council is reportedly locked in a bitter row with the Lupane Town Board over the ownership rights of the Bubi-Lupane Dam, with both local authorities claiming a large stake of the dam’s water rights.
The dam, situated less than 5km from the Matabeleland provincial capital, Lupane, is the largest in the province and it is viewed as the panacea to water problems, both domestic and irrigation, at Lupane Centre and surrounding areas.
However, the row comes at a time when the dam has not been used profitably since its commissioning more than two years ago.
The Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) recently started giving smaller authorities jurisdiction over the management of water supplies, which has now been the bone of contention between the two authorities, as they are already claiming rights to the dam before Zinwa’s handover.
Confirming the alleged rumpus, Minister of State for Provincial Affairs in Matabeleland North, Cde Cain Mathema said his office was working to bring both parties to a common understanding, noting that both wanted one thing — developmentt.
“It is unfortunate that Kusile RDC and the town board are already fighting over the dam, in particular on who should have the controlling rights, which is not what we should be worrying about at the moment. Instead, we should be worrying ourselves about bringing development to Lupane as a whole.
“My office is working round the clock to mediate in this row after realising that this is merely an administration issue. It can be easily resolved then we can focus on other pressing issues like constructing a sewer reticulation system because frankly, this thing of having septic tanks is so primitive and goes to show that the way Lupane was developed was with a growth point mentality,” said Cde Mathema.
However, contacted for comment, Kusile RDC acting chief executive officer Mr Christopher Chuma professed ignorance on the alleged squabble, saying it was premature for either of the two councils to talk about the dam.
“What we need for now is water and I believe it will be unfair for us to start talking about who owns that dam. First, the major priority is to give people water, develop the area, then we can start talking about issues of administration.
“Besides, as it stands, all bulk water reserves belong to Zinwa, who have just started the process of transferring control of water supplies to the local authorities. We are just small authorities so the best thing to do will be to wait for Zinwa to decide whenever they feel we are capable to run our own supplies,” said Mr Chuma.
However, efforts to get a comment from the Lupane local board officials were fruitless as their numbers went unanswered.
The spate between the two authorities comes after the company that constructed the dam, Multiforce, said people from Matabeleland North were failing to fully utilise the dam.
“The dam is 100 percent complete as everybody knows that it was commissioned two years ago and at the moment it is 95 percent full. The problem is that nobody is using it except for a women’s chicken project and construction work which does not consume much water.
“This is the biggest dam in Matabeleland North and should be used for domestic and irrigation purposes. There’s a need for various Government departments to come up and encourage people to start irrigation projects to utilise the water,” Multiforce director Engineer Zachariah Mukarakate said.
The dam has a carrying capacity of 40 million cubic metres.
