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Raymond Jaravaza, [email protected]

FACED with the unpleasant reality of watching their livestock die in numbers each passing day due to dwindling water sources amid an El Niño-induced drought, villagers of Ward 18 in Bulilima District, Matabeleland South Province, have resorted to digging shallow wells in the Gwayi River — the same source of water they now share with animals for survival.

On the surface, the Gwayi River, one of the longest rivers criss-crossing both Matabeleland North and South provinces, appears as dry as a bone due to the scant rainfall received in the 2023/24 season. However, a couple of metres beneath the sand lies lifesaving water that seeps into shallow wells dug by villagers.

In Village 2, Ward 18, Bulilima District, where the Gwayi River crosses the Solusi Road, surrounding communities have devised ways to tap into its water table lying a few metres underground in the riverbed. The industrious villagers have had to find ways to survive the drought gripping the area by digging multiple shallow wells along the river, providing a lifeline for both humans and livestock.

Using buckets to fill water into drums placed in a donkey-drawn scotch cart, Mr Polite Ndlovu and two neighbours fetch the scarce but precious liquid for their three families back home for household use.

“We dug this well in the river about three months ago after realising that we would not make it to the next rainy season without a consistent supply of water for our families. Villagers have come together to dig wells that they share among three or four families, and this stretch of the river, less than a kilometre on either side of the bridge, has over 15 wells. The water we get from Gwayi River is truly a lifeline for villagers and animals,” said Mr Ndlovu.

Every evening, Mr Ndlovu and his neighbours ‘‘fence’’ around their well with tree branches to prevent livestock from drinking the water and fetch the water in the morning with drums using a scotch cart. With three 200-litre drums filled up, their livestock –— cattle, donkeys, and goats — drink their share of the water in the morning and late afternoon before the well is barricaded with tree branches once again to allow underground water to seep into the well. It’s a routine the neighbours have been repeating every day for three months and will continue until the start of the rainy season. On the banks of the river, Chronicle spoke to three women doing laundry using water they fetched from a well dug in the Gwayi River.

Mrs Anita Ndlovu, who has lived her entire life in Village 2, doesn’t remember seeing the Gwayi River so dry that livestock are left without water except for the wells dug in the river bed.

“This part of the Gwayi River has over the years always had areas with pools of water that sustained our livestock until the next rainy season, but this is the worst drought I’ve seen in decades. We get all the water for our household uses such as cooking and drinking from these wells, and I would be lying if I said we boil the water before consuming it.

“Our lives would have been a living hell without the wells dug in the river, and I can’t begin to imagine how many cattle we could have lost without this water,” said Mrs Ndlovu. The nearest educational institution is Ntenjane Primary School, which does not have a borehole, so parents take turns fetching water from the Gwayi River to clean the school toilets to keep water-borne diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea at bay.

Miss Thenjiwe Nkomo’s two minor children are pupils at Ntenjane Primary School, and she said a resolution was made at a recent parents’ meeting that each household would be required to supply the school with at least two 20-litre buckets of water.

“The school does not have a borehole, and if we don’t supply water to clean the toilets and mop the classrooms, then it’s our children who will be infected with water-borne diseases. We don’t want the teachers to worry about the water situation so that they can concentrate on teaching our kids, which is why we agreed as parents to supply the school with water,” said Miss Nkomo.

The river is under siege from sand poachers who sell the sand as far as Bulawayo, but villagers say their illegal activities are a blessing in disguise as the large trenches they leave in the river are gradually turned into wells where animals drink from.

“The sand poachers dig deep holes in the river, and after some time, water starts seeping onto the surface, and villagers use it for their cattle,” said village head Mr Melusi Baloyi.
Member of Parliament for Bulilima, Cde Dingumuzi Phuti, said his team is on the ground around the constituency to map out where 28 boreholes that fall under the Presidential Borehole Scheme will be drilled in phases.

“As of last week, our team has surveyed 28 sites where boreholes will be drilled under the Presidential Borehole Scheme, and we are confident that those boreholes will cover the areas where water is needed the most.

“We are also going to support the Presidential Borehole Scheme by sourcing funding from development partners so that we can meet our targets of drilling sufficient boreholes for the whole constituency by the year 2025,” said Cde Phuti.
Cde Phuti added that in areas where there is not enough water to cater for nutritional gardens, the Government will ensure access to clean and potable water before the onset of the rainy season.

“We applaud the Presidential Borehole Scheme that has come at a time when drought hit the hardest in places such as Bulilima, an area perennially affected by hot conditions. It’s unfortunate that some of the boreholes might not yield enough water for nutrition gardens, but we will ensure that all villagers have access to clean water,” he said.