The Sunday News
Mollet Ndebele, Sunday News Reporter
MANGWE Rural District Council and the District Development Fund (DDF) in Matabeleland South have partnered to rehabilitate Fakane Dam, in the district, that breached early this month after heavy rains in the area.
Mangwe RDC chief executive officer Mr Bongani Ngwenya said the dam wall was built more than 60 years ago.
“The dam was built in the early 1960s and it has not been rehabilitated ever since. The breach might have been caused by the fact that the dam was dry all along and all of a sudden there was huge water inflows putting pressure on the wall. This is a huge damage because the dam supports at least 900 households and their livestock therefore there is an urgent need to rehabilitate and we are hoping that our partners will assist,” said Mr Ngwenya.
In an interview, DDF Matabeleland South acting provincial co-ordinator Mr Joseph Dube said his office received the report concerning the dam.
“When this incident happened, the community mobilised themselves and approached us for help. We had not budgeted for the rehabilitation of this dam therefore we managed to supply them with transport to ferry material to reconstruct. We mobilised the community to do most of the labour and carry stones and pit sand to avoid extra costs and they have been forthcoming. We also provided them with qualified constructors to supervise the builders,” said Mr Ngwenya.
Meanwhile, DDF is working on rehabilitating roads in Beitbridge and Gwanda districts.
“We are rehabilitating roads that were destroyed by heavy rains. We started with the Mapaye-Dite-Peters Road in Beitbridge which was destroyed by the floods last year. The flatness of the road was affected since the gravel had been washed away but the rains.
“We are also working on other two roads in Gwanda that lead to the Mlambapele Border Post which is a source of income for many people in the province. We have also sent out teams to do road condition assessment so that we call for funds from our head office,” said Mr Ngwenya.
He added that they are doing dam condition assessment so that they rehabilitate old dams to avoid breaching its walls.
