SIPEPA Clinic in Tsholotsho resembles a refugee camp in a war-torn country.
news in depth BY LUYANDUHLOBO MAKWATI
A week after arriving at the makeshift camp, the villagers are still unsure of what the future holds for them and are crying out for help.
A government delegation comprising Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs minister Cain Mathema, Local Government and National Housing minister Saviour Kasukuwere, Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology minister Jonathan Moyo and his Primary and Secondary Education counterpart Lazarus Dokora came face-to-face with the despair.
Moyo, who is also the Tsholotsho North MP, has resorted to using social media to mobilise support for the victims amid apparent neglect by the government.
A senior Zanu PF official in Matabeleland North summed up the frustration when he questioned why the government had not declared the Tsholotsho floods a national disaster area in the aftermath of the havoc caused by Cyclone Dineo.
“For some strange reason, the government has been cagey about declaring the situation in Tsholotsho a national disaster,” he said.
“The Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere was asked the question about the disaster and he ducked and dived yet he has gotten potholes in Harare declared a national disaster.
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“Accidents involving even 10 victims in a kombi are routinely declared national disasters,” he added. “There was no life lost in the Cyclone Dineo disaster in Tsholotsho but there is massive loss of livelihood. The rescue response was swift but the question is then, what’s next?”
Airforce of Zimbabwe helicopters were used to airlift 855 villagers that were marooned following the heavy rains that pounded the flood-prone district.
Among those rescued were 86 terminally ill people and 501 school-going children.
While the swift response saved lives, a report by Matabeleland North provincial administrator Latiso Dlamini painted a gloomy picture of the situation at the camp and the district in general.
Dlamini said the Sipepa camp urgently needed food, blankets, medical supplies, sanitary wear, stationery for schoolchildren, stationery for administration, plates, cups, cooking pots, tents, protective clothing, mobile toilets, soap, and cooking oil.
She said the Civil Protection Unit (CPU)’s reaction to the disaster had been crippled by poor communication, inadequate resources, lack of suitable vehicles, poor road network, lack of allowances, impassable bridges, continuous rains and lack of experience in setting up such a camp.
While the government said it was providing food to the victims, affected villagers on Friday had sad stories to tell about alleged neglect.
Gwayi River burst its banks, leaving several villages marooned and without food.
The affected villages include Mahlosi, Mahlaba, Thamuhla, Mbamba, Mele, Lutshome, Maphili and Mbanyana.
Melusi Mathema, one of the flood victims, said the makeshift camp was inhabitable.
“The way we are surviving here is unbearable. We hope the government will act and give us proper space, not these tents,” he said.
“Living in a tent in this weather and at an open area within a hospital is like hell. Who can sleep in an open tent under such conditions?” Ncube asked.
He also said victims were getting inadequate food rations.
“We do not know whether enough food is being donated by government and aid agencies because the rations we are getting here are too little,” he said. “We hope the government will not keep us here for a long time like what happened at Tokwe Mukosi some years back.”
Sitheni Ncube said the tents were overcrowded and she feared a major disease outbreak if there was no intervention soon.
“We have been rescued and are safe but the living conditions here are not good,” she said.
“We are overcrowded and are exposed to bad weather conditions. In 2013 we were affected by floods but we were never rescued.
“Some of us were still rebuilding our homes that were destroyed four years ago and now the tropical storm has hit us.”
Former Tsholotsho North MP Roselyn Nkomo said the floods were due to government neglect.
“It is not the first time we are having floods in the area. The government only comes when there is a problem. They should have closed or raised contours of the Gwayi dam a long time,” she said.
“Thank God the cyclone was downgraded to a tropical storm, otherwise people would have been swept away by floods.”
Nkomo said the government must avoid a repeat of the Tokwe Mukosi scenario where thousands of flood victims were dumped for years with no proper facilities.
According to a disaster situation report dating back to October by the CPU, about 2 000 homesteads have been destroyed by rains, leaving 635 families homeless countrywide. Tsholotsho is cited as the worst affected district.
Meanwhile, a senior government official in Matabeleland North said declaring the Tsholotsho crisis a national disaster was necessary to address the plight of the flood victims.
“Declaring the situation a national disaster would make it possible for necessary actions to be taken to restore the lost livelihoods regarding the relocation of villagers and construction of new homesteads after proper identification of an alternative site and physical planning,” he said.
“It would also help in the building of destroyed education and health infrastructure or increasing the capacity of existing facilities in Sipepa’s ward 5 and in Tshino in ward 6, which have absorbed the flood victims.”
He added: “[It is important to] address the food security situation in light of massive crop destruction whose consequence is that the victims will need food and nutrition assistance between now and the 2018 harvesting season. Declaring the emergency a national disaster would make it possible for a solid plan to be implemented to address the food security and nutrition situation.”
The official said while the villagers who had homesteads in areas that were hit by floods had been the focus of attention, “an ignored and yet equally important dimension of the disaster is that many other villagers in ward 6 and in ward 5 [Sipepa] where the camp has been set up for the displaced victims had their fields and grazing pastures for their cattle at the area ravaged by the Cyclone Dineo floods.”
“It is, therefore, necessary to reclaim and rehabilitate the disaster area to ensure that it can be used in future for farming and grazing pastures by wards 5 and 6 communities,” he said. “Declaring the emergency a national disaster would facilitate this.”
Tsholotsho has in the past been hit by floods and Dlamini declared that the experience was one of her team’s greatest strengths.
“The flood experience is not a first time occurrence, so the team was more prepared and had items in stock,” she said.
“There was a swift response from the Zimbabwe National Army, Air Force, Plan International and the district CPU committee.”
However, the victims feel the reaction by the government has not been good enough and want a state of disaster declared as a matter of urgency.
