The ManicaPost
Rumbidzayi Zinyuke
Senior Reporter
The once life giving Nyamatubu River in Nyanga North has dried up, taking with it its lifeblood.
The river has succumbed to years of deforestation which is driven by the illegal gold mining activities happening in the area.
With no tree cover, silt has chocked the river, blocking the movement of water, especially during the dry winter season.
Although the river flows for the better part of the year, when it eventually goes dry, the Samakande community has to devise ways to force the water out of its unyielding bosom.
In most dry areas, mifuku, as they are known, are small holes dug in a river which no longer flows, that yield water for a short time.
Villagers dig them to get water for that day and when they come back in the morning, they dig it up again and fetch more water.
But villagers surrounding Nyamatubu have figured out a way to make the water stay in the hole with the invention of an archaic but useful device.
It is technology best created to fit the purpose. A 20-litre bucket with the bottom cut off is firmly placed in the hole and acts as a reservoir.
The bucket keeps the water fresh, while keeping the sand at bay.
All they need to do is place a lid or a flat stone on top of the bucket so that no animal can disturb the water.
Mrs Lucia Mudzudza from Samakande Village said they reserve the water from this particular hole for home use, including washing the dishes, bathing and watering their goats.
But when desperate enough, other villagers also use it for cooking and drinking.
Who knows what happens when they get home with the water?
“We dug this hole and placed the bucket in it so that it does not close. We now have a constant source of water. Since we dig many holes along the river to get water for our gardens and livestock, we try by all means to keep this one clean. We get water for cooking from a well that was sunk a short distance from here, while drinking water is fetched from a borehole located some kilometres from here,” she said.
She said villagers have accepted the hassle they have to go through to get water.
Mr Wilson Sauro said if mining activities were to be formalised, more development will be realised in the area.
“If the local miners were to get equipment, they would work in an organised manner and we would see less deforestation. Our rivers will not be silted,” he said.
“It is not only this river that has been affected. We also have Gairezi River in Nyazingwe and Nyamombe River in Chisero, which are also drying up. Long back, these rivers were perennial and would bring life to these parts. We had so many activities thriving on the water, but now they are just small streams.
‘‘The villagers shouldn’t be surviving on such water sources. We need to manage our rivers in a better way,” he said.
The predicament that the villagers find themselves in brings to the fore the need for targeted interventions to combat such situations.
Experts have said Zimbabwe needs to come up with a sustainable forest management strategy to combat the drivers of deforestation which have had a major negative impact on the environment and draws back efforts to mitigate effects of climate change.
Zimbabwe’s rate of deforestation has been pegged at around 53 000 hectares per annum.
With mining activities continuously contributing to the ever increasing cutting down of trees, villagers say they will continue to call on Government to bring sanity to the mining sector and also work on desilting the rivers.
Water is life. Rivers need to continue flowing to bring that life to communities.
