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Whinsley Masara, Chronicle Reporter
Tsholotsho District in Matabeleland North is facing serious water shortages with some areas now rationing borehole water.

District Administrator, Nosizi Dube said although the district is a known dry region, this year’s water problems seem to be to be worse.

She said there are a few boreholes that are still functional in the district with very low water levels.

“The situation is very bad and unfortunately it has no immediate solution. The district has only one dam (Gariya) and this year is a tough one as all its aquifers have all dried up,” said Dube.

“Imagine a situation in which people have to drive their cattle to boreholes and there they take turns to pump for them to drink. There are now two queues at borehole pumps, one for domestic use and buckets for livestock.”

Some people travel for up to five kilometres to fetch water at points where they are confronted by long queues.

“Our biggest worry is what will happen when the boreholes dry up. Constant repairing is also needed at such times. We hope the government will consider this as a matter of urgency because as an administrator myself, I’ve run out of solutions and the situation is really disheartening,” said Dube.

Tsholotsho Rural District Council Chief Executive Officer Themba Moyo said rural areas were the hardest hit.

“As council we are appealing to the government to save the people by construction more dams and boreholes to alleviate water problems,” he said.
Chief Magama said villagers had resorted to rationing borehole water.

“Villagers are taking turns to fetch water at boreholes and have even assigned each other to monitor the borehole pumps as they now ration the water. Those who guard ensure that no family comes on a daily basis to the pump,” he said.

“In some parts of my area, families fetch water once in two days and that’s how tight the situation is. We’ve resorted to allocating fetching of water once in two days per household to ensure we save.”

He said people were now spending most of their time looking for water.

Councillor Patrick Ngwenya said:

“We cannot wait for the rains to save us but with these climate dynamics, we don’t know what will become of us.”