New Limpopo dam to quench villagers’ thirst

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Villagers have to walk far distances to get water from rivers and streams. File photo.

A new dam in Limpopo is set to bring clean, reliable water to 10 villages in the province’s Vhembe District.

For years, Thingahangwi Muleba has had to struggle to get water daily in his village of Tshandama. With tap water often unclean, Muleba and other villagers say they must walk to nearby rivers and streams to get water to cook and clean with.

For years the villagers have been promised a dam but limited water resources and municipal finances have prevented this from happening.

Now the completion of a new dam may change all this for Muleba, his village and nine other villages in the Mutale area about 100 kms north of Thohoyandou

“We are hugely excited that the water issues in our areas are being addressed. We’ve struggled for a long time. This dam is very good news,” said Muleba.

Muendedzi Ngalavha from Tshishivhe village told OurHealth he had almost given up hope of the dam.

“It’s been more than three yeas since I moved to this village and I have always struggled a lot when it comes to water issues,” he said.

“People around here have been talking about the dam that has to be built, but I eventually lost hope because it seemed like it was taking forever to see any progress. I am just happy to now say that we will be getting clean water from the dam,” said Ngalavha.

Some villagers are still wary.

Ndiambani Gaba said he was not yet celebrating.

“We have been waiting for a dam like this for a very long time and we can see they are building it but we cannot yet get all over excited before it starts supplyng the water realy. So we will wait for them to finish it up and serve us with clean water before we celebrate,” Gaba explained.