Gwanda North residents have expressed their concerns over growing water shortages especial in summer, where drinking more water is highly recommended to prevent dehydration.
Speaking in an all stakeholders social accountability meeting organised by CYDT in Nkashe, Gwanda North recently, youths noted that water crisis is the main challenge faced by their community since local dams have dried up and a number of boreholes are not functioning which has resulted in villagers walking kilometres to access water.
Miss Sandra Ncube, a youth from Matshiya village noted that lack of water sources and functioning boreholes is intensely affecting them.
“We have no water and all our dams have dried up, we are in need of livelihood projects but for us to start for instance goat projects or gardening, we need water. We now have to walk long distances in search of water because our dams have dried up and in some areas the water levels further dropped by 7,7 metres. Furthermore, most boreholes are currently not functioning,” said Miss Ncube.
“Another challenge that we are facing as a community is that in Nkashe, teachers are abandoning our schools because of the water issue. We have two schools and they both do not have water and thus teachers abandon these schools because of lack of water,” a male youth who attended the meeting said.
The youths pointed out that water availability will likely pave way for the development of clinics in their communities, therefore, it is imperative that local authorities prioritise the grievances raised by the public for instance the water challenges being faced by Gwanda North residents.
They encouraged the Rural District Council to start fixing and developing dams that have so far dried up so that when the rain season arrives, dams will be able to hold large amounts of water, and also maintain existing boreholes.
Responding to these water issues raised by the concerned villagers, Councillor Stenford Nkala noted that the council is aware of water challenges and they are devising strategies to mitigate this challenge
“As the council, we have tried to look into the challenges we are facing as a ward including the water challenge. Two boreholes have been fixed and the road was also fixed in partnership with the DDF,” said Cllr Nkala.
He went on to say that “service provision is affected by the rate payers and the RTGS that continues to lose value and yet many services now are being pegged in foreign currency, making it a challenge to address some issues in the community”
Youths also raised the issue of less youth representation in Village Development Committee (Vidco) and Ward Development Committee (Wadco), and appealed to the elders to include them in these committees.
“As the youth we want to be included in Wadco and Vidco so that we are included in local development. It is better to have atleast one youth representative who will keep us informed of the ongoing activities taking place in our communities. We can also air out our views through a youth representative who understand better the challenges we are facing,” said Belinda Sibindi.
Ends/////
Recent Comments