Over a month after surviving the worst flooding in Tsholotsho, Musa Ndlovu (70) has lost hope of getting decent shelter anytime soon despite government promises.
BY XOLISANI NCUBE
Ndlovu got a similar promise in 2001 after he was left homeless by severe floods that hit the district. He sees the latest destruction of his home by the recent floods induced by tropical storm Dineo as the final nail on his “miserable life”.
“This is not the first time that floods have occurred in our area.
“In 2001 we had this crisis and we came here [Sipepa transit camp],” Ndlovu said as he glanced at the small tent where his wife and grandchildren were temporarily housed.
“Then, just like now, government promised to look for a suitable site for us so that we could be relocated but nothing happened.
“We had to go back to our homes where today, we once again lost all we had built after the 2001 calamity.”
He said Tsholotsho residents were now of the view that government did not care about them.
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“We are here again, not that there was no opportunity to avert this disaster, but our government thought it was not important then,” Ndlovu said.
In 2001, Ndlovu said he lost 12 goats, at least 30 chickens, his clothes and household goods.
He had managed to rebuild his head of goats and now had 53 chickens besides constructing a four bed-roomed house to share with his grandchildren.
“We did not go back to our homes [in Bambanano Village under chief Mathaphula — ward six in Tsholotsho North] because we wanted to, but we stayed here for over three months and nothing was happening with the promised relocations and it was becoming clear that we were going to become a charity case forever,” he said.
“Because of that, we had to go back as soon as the situation normalised.”
This year Ndlovu says he sees himself embarking on the same journey he took 16 years ago but without his five children.
This time he will have to rely on his 16-year-old granddaughter and her 12-year-old brother for labour to rebuild a decent home.
“Then [2001] I had my sons to help me re-start this life which had been brought down by the rains,” he said.
“They were working in Bulawayo and my daughters were also working in Harare, but today, none of them is here to help me restart my life.
“The last born is in South Africa but as you know, life is also tough out there.”
Ndlovu’s family is among 250 families sheltered at the Sipepa transit camp in Tsholotsho North after their homes were destroyed by floods in February.
He is part of the 2 000 people displaced countrywide but counts himself lucky to be alive after the rains killed more than 200 people between December 2016 and late February 2017.
Government says it is sourcing for more than $188 million to help the flood victims re-build their lives.
But Ndlovu, like many other flood victims, is sceptical about the government’s seriousness in addressing their plight.
“What happened to the resources mobilised in 2001 towards a similar crisis?” Ndlovu asked.
“It is my hope that this time, a lasting solution will be found for our perennial plight.
“The place we are supposed to be relocated to is unsuitable for human habitation. It has no water for both cattle and human beings.”
He said the situation at the transit camp was unbearable and it was now hard for him to enjoy his conjugal rights with his wife due to overcrowding.
“We are sharing this tent with other families. It is impossible to sleep with my wife in the presence of other people,” he said.
“If government had worked out a solution to our plight in 2001, we could be talking of something else.
“I am being denied my rights as a man to enjoy my life with my wife in our old age,” Ndlovu said.
He added: “Family life has broken down here. I fear for my granddaughter who often see some couples making love whenever they get an opportunity.
“Do you think you can sustain and conquer the heat for a long time?
“At times it [being intimate]is the solution to the stress that we are going through as a result of this calamity, which we could have sorted out in 2001.”
Mejury Maphosa, the sister-in-charge at the Sipepa Clinic said daily, several boxes of condoms are used at the camp.
She said to reduce cases of sexually transmitted infections and other related diseases, the camp, with the help of the National Aids Council, was conducting daily educational programmes on condom use and healthy living.
“At least every day in the morning we put 10 boxes of condoms at strategic points and we have seen a massive uptake,” she said.
“We are teaching them about condom use, as well as disposal of them because we have young people in the camp whom we don’t want to expose to these things.”
A box of condoms contains at least 100 units and from the figures, at least 1 000 packets are used by a population of 850 people made of 250 households.
“At times we see youths playing outside their tents, but from a social life aspect, this is a crisis that needs attention as a matter of urgency,” Maphosa said.
“We had hoped that if we were to get more tents, people would then live as families and probably create that social space as well as guard against exposing the young ones to social ills that would be taking place within the tent.”
Mellisa Moyo (47), said she had to be watchful of her 15-year-olddaughter so that she does not succumb to peer pressure.
“I just hope that she has not been badly influenced already by this environment here,” she said.
“We know that mixing and mingling of children brought up in different settings is really a burden, especially where security is minimal.”
However, she is alive to the fact that with the unpredictable weather conditions in the country, she might be back at Sipepa transit camp next year, unless a permanent solution is found to their challenges.
“We just hope that these so-called stands that have been pegged will materialise otherwise I don’t know what tomorrow holds for me and my family,” Moyo said.
Moyo, like Ndlovu, said her worst fears were that the government would not be able to raise the $12 000 that has been promised to each household to build new homes.
