Gokwe: First Rains Thwarts Water Harvesting Efforts 

It never Rains but pours for the Gokwe Kabuyuni Constituency, a community known for water shortages as most of the dams constructed burst out due to heavy pours of the early Rains.

My Gokwe Media visited one of the dams, Mkoka dam which was constructed during the dry season.

It was really sad and devastating to see that the dam’s wall and spillway were destroyed by the fist Rains with little traceable remains.

One of the villagers whom we met at the dam (Identified as Tshuma) exhibited great disappointment with the committee that spearheaded the dam construction – for failure to take heed to the instructions given by the trusted Agritex Officer.

Committee yakaita nharo ikaita zvemusoro wayo ichisiya zvakataurwa naSibanda Mudhomeni. Sibanda akanga ati tiise mudhuri wedhamu wematombo nesamende tobvatauita sipiriweyi. Committee kwakusara yakaita nharo voisa mudhuri pakati pedhamu. (The committee failed to follow instructions of the Agritex Officer who had advised to site the dam wall and the spillway at the same spot but rather put the earth wall at the middle of the dam and the Spillway to the other end).

Another villager who was passing by highlighted conflicting views of Agritex Offices as the major cause of this failed project.

Vanhu vakaterera Mapako kwakusiya zvakataurwa naSibanda, ndipo pakakanganisa. Isu Sibanda tomuziva Ari munhu anoziva committee take adi manje committee yedu haina kids kumuterera. (The community fell to Mapako’s instructions and ignored those of Sibanda whom we know for credible results).

On our endeavor to contact any member of the committee, we met it’s Chairperson Headman Nanjali who said it’s now water under the brigde and that the main focus now was to seek aid and move forward.

Zvakaitika zvakatoitika vanangu, musaterera zvotaurwa nevanhu. Isu takungotsvaka rubatsiro nguva ichipo zvimwe tingawane kugarira mvura shoma hayo. (Let’s not dwell much on what happened but rather move forward. Our major concern hitherto, is to seek help so that we can harvest the little we can before it’s too late).

Due to rains, My Gokwe could not reach out to Kabuyuni, Kandokwe and Muzala dams which were also blown to gallies by the same destructive floods.

The community is a perennial water disaster threatened society which travels for over 10km in search of water during dry seasons every year.

The 2019/20 season was one of the worst as they had to travel as far as 15km to Sengwa Mine abandoned opencast pits, the only default water bodies which sustained the whole community untill first rains came.

Thus, there is a predictable threat to the human and animal life if the crisis is not contained with immediate effect.