Dream stuck in pipeline
While President Hage Geingob recently boasted that 95% of households have access to clean drinking water, the reality on the ground is grim.
Despite repeated calls for a reliable water supply, some residents in Kavango East still have no access to clean drinking water.
For the past 29 years, it has been extremely difficult for residents of Nyondo village in Kavango East to find a reliable source of safe drinking water.
Their plight has not improved in recent years, as Namibian Sun learned on a recent trip to the area.
Nyondo is a relatively small community in the Ndonga Linena constituency.
Villagers from Nyondo and surrounding areas such as Mangandu have no alternative but to continue drinking contaminated water, putting them at risk of waterborne diseases. Shallow wells are most at risk of bacterial contamination leading to diarrhoea and vomiting.
The community survives on unclean water drawn from shallow wells, nearby earthen dams or the Okavango River, which is about five kilometres from their homes.
The shallow wells are dug in floodplains.
“We are suffering here, we do not have access to clean drinking water ever since we were born,” said an elderly woman who was filling a container of water.
Community members, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expressed disappointment with the government for not making clean drinking water available.
“The only time I drink clean water is when I go to Rundu for shopping, which I in fact have to buy from shops. As for here back home, this is the water I have to use to cook for my family and we have to drink.”
Namibian Sun was also informed that an 11-year-old boy recently drowned in one of the wells while trying to fetch water. The community members say they are living in hopelessness and have given up hope of any change.
“Promises have been made to us and we have been waiting for the water to come but nothing up to today. We are hopeless now but if there are plans for it to come, let it come quick so that the next generation doesn't suffer like us,” one said.
Another community member pointed out that the wells are far from homesteads, and that criminals use the water points as hotspots to commit crime.
“This is why you see we have come in a group to fetch water otherwise if you come alone, you can get attacked and raped. We don't even send our daughters to come and fetch water, simply because we fear for their safety,” one woman remarked.
“As much as we know the dangers of getting water from these wells, what option do we have? You don't know what the person who visited the well before you might have slipped in, so far nothing serious was reported but this is not a way a human being should survive,” they said.
'No money'
Approached for comment, constituency councillor Petrus Kavhura said his office was aware of the situation at Nyondo, especially at Mangandu village. “We are fully aware and it is really true that starting from Nyondo school up until Mangandu area does not have access to clean drinking water,” Kavhura said.
When asked what his office was doing to address the problem, Kavhura said for the past three financial years they had submitted a request for boreholes to the ministry of agriculture's water supply directorate, but nothing happened.
“Since 2015 when we took over office we provided a list to the ministry of agriculture, water and forestry's rural water supply directorate in order for them to drill boreholes. We have been doing it for the past three years but no single borehole was drilled,” Kavhura said.
He said the response he got was that all funds budgeted for rural water supply had been diverted to the completion of the N$5.7 billion Neckartal Dam in the //Karas Region. Last year it was announced that construction of the dam was complete.
In his State of the Nation Address last week in the National Assembly, President Hage Geingob said access to drinking water stood at 95% of households.
“Water is life and we are proud that access to potable water has increased from 50% to 95% of households countrywide during the period under review,” Geingob said.
“Community water points are built along pipelines. Those who need to walk to a water source, water is available within a radius of 2.5 kilometres. In 1990 for example, residents of Omusati Region walked approximately 10 kilometres to the nearest water source.”
KENYA KAMBOWE
For the past 29 years, it has been extremely difficult for residents of Nyondo village in Kavango East to find a reliable source of safe drinking water.
Their plight has not improved in recent years, as Namibian Sun learned on a recent trip to the area.
Nyondo is a relatively small community in the Ndonga Linena constituency.
Villagers from Nyondo and surrounding areas such as Mangandu have no alternative but to continue drinking contaminated water, putting them at risk of waterborne diseases. Shallow wells are most at risk of bacterial contamination leading to diarrhoea and vomiting.
The community survives on unclean water drawn from shallow wells, nearby earthen dams or the Okavango River, which is about five kilometres from their homes.
The shallow wells are dug in floodplains.
“We are suffering here, we do not have access to clean drinking water ever since we were born,” said an elderly woman who was filling a container of water.
Community members, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expressed disappointment with the government for not making clean drinking water available.
“The only time I drink clean water is when I go to Rundu for shopping, which I in fact have to buy from shops. As for here back home, this is the water I have to use to cook for my family and we have to drink.”
Namibian Sun was also informed that an 11-year-old boy recently drowned in one of the wells while trying to fetch water. The community members say they are living in hopelessness and have given up hope of any change.
“Promises have been made to us and we have been waiting for the water to come but nothing up to today. We are hopeless now but if there are plans for it to come, let it come quick so that the next generation doesn't suffer like us,” one said.
Another community member pointed out that the wells are far from homesteads, and that criminals use the water points as hotspots to commit crime.
“This is why you see we have come in a group to fetch water otherwise if you come alone, you can get attacked and raped. We don't even send our daughters to come and fetch water, simply because we fear for their safety,” one woman remarked.
“As much as we know the dangers of getting water from these wells, what option do we have? You don't know what the person who visited the well before you might have slipped in, so far nothing serious was reported but this is not a way a human being should survive,” they said.
'No money'
Approached for comment, constituency councillor Petrus Kavhura said his office was aware of the situation at Nyondo, especially at Mangandu village. “We are fully aware and it is really true that starting from Nyondo school up until Mangandu area does not have access to clean drinking water,” Kavhura said.
When asked what his office was doing to address the problem, Kavhura said for the past three financial years they had submitted a request for boreholes to the ministry of agriculture's water supply directorate, but nothing happened.
“Since 2015 when we took over office we provided a list to the ministry of agriculture, water and forestry's rural water supply directorate in order for them to drill boreholes. We have been doing it for the past three years but no single borehole was drilled,” Kavhura said.
He said the response he got was that all funds budgeted for rural water supply had been diverted to the completion of the N$5.7 billion Neckartal Dam in the //Karas Region. Last year it was announced that construction of the dam was complete.
In his State of the Nation Address last week in the National Assembly, President Hage Geingob said access to drinking water stood at 95% of households.
“Water is life and we are proud that access to potable water has increased from 50% to 95% of households countrywide during the period under review,” Geingob said.
“Community water points are built along pipelines. Those who need to walk to a water source, water is available within a radius of 2.5 kilometres. In 1990 for example, residents of Omusati Region walked approximately 10 kilometres to the nearest water source.”
KENYA KAMBOWE
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