The Sunday News
Nkosilathi Sibanda, Business Correspondent
A FUNDRAISER for the rehabilitation of St Joseph’s Dam at Bidi Village, Matobo district, fronted by Zimbabweans living in the diaspora has been launched.
The dam is of service communities under local chiefs, Bango, Bidi and Malaba. Being a source of water for humans and livestock, it has been filling up with sand for more than two decades.
Lack of funds to manage the dam, neglect and environmental degradation have seen the dam bed rising every year.
In good rains, massive flood plains occur, threatening to outpour the dam wall and cause damage to surrounding homesteads and farm fields. During dry spells induced by successive droughts that have hit the country, muddy silt accumulates and has caused a death trap to livestock that includes goats, donkeys and cattle.
Stuck in mud, looking to sip the little water left, livestock die if villagers fail to take notice. For a dam that was once the oasis of farming communities as far as 1954, what remains is an elevated flood pan bordered by a dam wall filled with shrubs and protruding stones.
When it rains well on a good season, villagers are happy but scared of a rapture of the dam wall. In times of drought, as experienced last year, fears grip the farmers. There would be no water.
Following a series of pictures and videos of the dry dam that circulated online, a group of Zimbabweans based in the Diaspora who are former students at schools around the area mooted to kick start a fundraiser to the aid of St Joseph’s dam.
Pictures of bleating goats stuck in mud were spine chilling.
A Sunday News crew, in a visit to the area last Friday, saw the sorry sight of what was said to be a dam. Half of the dam looks plain like the rest of the surrounding land, with grass offshoots, sandy patches and hardened mud.
Save for the deeper end of the dam, the recent rains filled up a few millilitres.
There is nothing to draw.
Reactions to the gory sight have yielded a movement, borne out of helping the community of St Joseph’s to reclaim their dam.
A meeting was called on Friday last week to map strategies on how best the community can rehabilitate its dam.
In order to carry out full rehabilitation, more than US$10 000 was needed.
It was learnt that under the St Jesa (St Joseph’s Ex-Students Association) banner, expatriates are mobilising funds to rehabilitate the dam.
In an interview from the United Kingdom, the dam rehabilitation coordinator Mr John Makheyi Ncube said they are mobilising to raise money to remove silt on the dam.
“The St. Josephs Miski Dam Community rehabilitation we are working on will need to raise more than US$10 000 alone. The monetary and resource mobilisation is an on-going process that is executed on a monthly basis until we raise the figures that are required,” said Mr Ncube.
“We are calling out to the whole community to rally behind this Dam Rehabilitation Project in putting things right for now, tomorrow and forever. The work on the ground involves removal of silt that has accumulated over years, therefore drastically reducing the storage capacity of the reservoir.”
Pictures and videos of livestock stuck in mud caused a stir among Zimbabweans who grew up at St Joseph’s and according to Mr Ncube that is what initiated the idea to rehabilitate the dam.
“The short video clips and pictures of those poor animals stuck in that mud was a wakeup call to everyone, and one wonders what it would have taken for us to wake up to the looming disaster which has quickly turned into a full blown crisis. It has to be appreciated that everything starts and ends with the precious liquid that is water.”
He said the exercise will require heavy machinery to dig the silt out and deposit it away from where it could find its way back into the reservoir. The death trap for our livestock will also be a thing of the past.
“The removal of the silt will see the holding capacity of the reservoir increase and hence better water retention and better supplies for our local institutions.”
The local project coordinator Mr Dingaan Ndlovu, the plan was to create a strong community based disaster response through community planning and participation.
“We have a serious situation at hand. The dam is dry, silt is all over the place and even if it rains, the water will fast dry out. We want to bring together all stakeholders and the community in the planning stage. It has to enable a bottom-up planning approach.
“Working together with the Diaspora, we want to determine the stages or phases of this dam project and create a concept paper and project proposals for bigger work on water in this area,” said Mr Ndlovu.
The local St Joseph’s clinic, Mqabuko High school and nutritional gardens also rely on the dam.
The local authority Matobo Rural District Council has also hinted on assisting in the project.
“We are elated that finally communities are able to take a lead in issues to do with their livelihoods. We encourage them to go ahead with the planning. As a council we have what we call village and ward plans and we are going to help where we can.
“It is important that the community quantifies the dam rehabilitation project in terms of funding needed. They need to have a project proposal that they can launch with council.
Mrs Victoria Ndlovu a farmer in the area said it was incumbent for villagers to appreciate the amount of work being done.
“Now it is upon us as farmers and settlers in the area to take the bull by its horns. The dam is a life giver. Without a reservoir of such nature our farming activities are doomed, so we are encouraged to look for the money,” she said.
