The Sunday News
WHILE Bulawayo residents may seem to be the biggest beneficiaries of the Mtshabezi pipeline, villagers from Umzingwane district, from where the water resource is being exploited, also have every reason to cheer.
The completion of the 42km pipeline has greatly eased Bulawayo’s perennial water woes, increasing daily supplies by about 20 percent. At the height of the city’s water shortages, the local authority resorted to a four-day water shedding schedule per week.
Thanks to the $23 million pipeline, Bulawayo’s biting water shortages are history now, unless something dramatic happens with the levels of water in the supply dams before rains come.
The pipeline project may, however, appear as yet another typical case of interests of the metropolis taking precedence over those of the rural areas. Umzingwane folk may want to pick a bone with authorities, feeling hard done by the decision to have a resource in their area being exploited for the benefit of Bulawayo residents.
However, with the Mtshabezi pipeline, and gladly so, it is not the case. Villagers who live along the pipeline may actually emerge as the biggest winners. The pipeline has seven off take points along the way which allow locals to access water from Mtshabezi Dam.
While commissioning the pipeline recently, Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the off take points should be developed into irrigation schemes.
VP Mnangagwa pledged irrigation equipment to Umzingwane villagers, but also challenged the communities along the pipeline to take the initiative of establishing irrigation schemes before Government chips in with support in the form of irrigation equipment.
“I was talking to Umzingwane Rural District Council and told them that the seven off takes should be developed into irrigation schemes. I promised them equipment. As Government we said we cannot take all the water to Bulawayo while locals are not benefiting. We want families to grow vegetables and other various crops. We will support such initiatives with irrigation equipment. This help just doesn’t come. If you keep quiet you won’t get the help because you are not the only ones who want it. Tell us that you have such and such initiatives and we will come to assist,” he said.
Added the Vice-President: “We have equipment from Brazil and part of that equipment will benefit Matabeleland South province. There are about eight centres that will benefit from Phase One of the project. There are more phases to come.”
VP Mnangagwa’s message and pledge breathe an air of optimism on Matabeleland South folk, particularly those in Umzingwane whose area has recurrently been ravaged by food shortages due poor rains.
Smallholder farmers in the province have always faced extreme weather variability, periodically throwing lives into disarray, ruining livelihoods and increasing poverty.
Setting up of more irrigation schemes will thus activate the hard working smallholder farmers to achieve remarkable increases in production, realize great improvements to their lives and become much more resilient to weather extremes.
If the local authority takes heed of the VP’s call, the Matshabezi pipeline comes as a milestone in the achievement of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-economic Transformation (Zim Asset), food and nutrition cluster.
The food shortage situation in Matabeleland South province cannot be understated.
Matshabezi pipeline, if fully exploited by locals, will turn out to be much more than just the drinking water conveyer it is to Bulawayo residents, but a panacea to their food shortage woes.
A case study of an irrigation project implemented by Oxfam and Government in Ruti, Gutu district in Masvingo province, shows that local adaptation efforts can go a long way, but there is still a danger that people may lose out and their efforts be frustrated unless they are part of a wider supportive political and economic framework.
VP Mnangagwa’s call for the establishment of more irrigation schemes along Mtshabezi pipeline and his pledge to provide irrigation equipment, is evidence of the political will needed to turn irrigation schemes into bastion of economies in drought prone areas.
Umzingwane villagers have every reason to glee in anticipation of the better days beckoning.
Speaking earlier during the commissioning of the pipeline, Matabeleland South Provincial Administrator Mr Midard Khumalo emphasised the need for establishment of more irrigation schemes in the province.
He said the province was blessed with a number of large water sources which can support and sustain the setting up of more irrigation schemes towards enhancing food security in the province.
Matabeleland South province has five dams, namely upper and lower Ncema, Insiza, Umzingwane and Mtshabezi. If the five water sources are used for irrigation purposes, the province is poised to bid au revior to food shortages.
“Matabeleland South is an arid province, coupled with the type of soil we experience incessant droughts. People cannot produce enough to feed themselves. This has resulted in many families being food insecure. As a province we need to see the increase on irrigation activity. Currently we are operating a couple of irrigation schemes and we also have A2 farmers who are into irrigation. Additional irrigation schemes will allow our province to contribute to the success of the land reform programme and ZimAsset,” he said.
While Government, as part of its constitutional mandate, has secured enough grain to alleviate food shortages in the country, setting up of irrigation schemes across the country would be a long term solution to the food shortage concerns.
Construction of the Mtshabezi pipeline started in June 2007 at an estimated cost of Z$473 billion. The project was however, suspended in August 2008 owing to financial constraints. By the time of the suspension the contractor, Nanchang from China, was already on site and 1,4km of the pipeline had been excavated. The project resumed in 2009 upon the introduction of the multicurrency and it was revalued at about US$23 million.
A 62km power line from Gwanda to Mtshabezi, and substation, were also constructed to provide power for the pumping to Mzingwane dam. The pipeline has four sections, namely the 7,5km gravity pumping main from the Mtshabezi dam wall to the Mtshabezi pump station, a 7km pumping main from the pump station to a 1000 cubic metre tank situated on a hill and then a 10, 5 km gravity main from the tank to another 1000 cubic metre tank.
The last section consists of a 17km gravity main from the second tank to Mzingwane dam.Part of the project also includes a 2 280 cubic metre sump at the pump station at Mtshabezi dam and a 250 cubic metre brick tank at Mzingwane dam. It also has a pump housing three pump sets with each capable of delivering 720 cubic metre of raw water per hour.
