SPECIAL REPORT: Tokwe-Mukorsi victims lose hope of rebuilding

• Water principal problem.
• State of educational facilities appalling.
• Health crisis as families are crowded.
• Victims fear donor fatigue could set in.

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THE Tokwe-Mukorsi flood victims camped at Chingwizi transit camp in Nuanetsi Ranch in the Lowveld have lost hope of ever rebuilding their shattered lives.

They can’t forget too soon the floods that devastated their lives which were serene and almost uneventful only a short three months ago.

In the wake of the floods resulting from the breaking down of the under-construction Tokwe-Mukorsi Dam wall, they had hoped for a quick resettlement programme after which they would carry on with their lives. But their future is becoming more and more uncertain as little is being done to resettle them despite government pronouncements on how the programme is on course.

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Just two weeks ago after being ravaged by severe rains that socked their property and forced them to stand leaning on poles that hold their tents for the better part of the night last week, the villagers staged a demonstration at the district administrator (DA)’s office demanding that they be sent back to the flooded Tokwe-Mukorsi area because the government has dumped them into worse conditions.

The way to the Promised Land is becoming too harsh. The victims are fast losing hope. Two months have gone by while they are in the crammed Chingwizi transit camp and with it, their hope for a decent home. The villagers say government was taking ages to resettle them.

“We don’t have any idea when we are going to be resettled,” a hopeless Simon Mapfumo (74), sitting on a stool outside his tent enjoying the morning heat, told NewsDay recently.

“We are just being promised that we will be resettled, but it seems there is no action. It is tough to wake up every day and you have nothing to do, and you have no place to call your own. We need to be on our pieces of land so that we repair our shattered future.”

And sure, the lives of the victims have been revolving around two things: queuing for scarce water provided by Unicef until the wee hours of every day, and queuing for food handouts in the scorching sun of the Lowveld.

“Due to the limited space and crowding, we also have a torrid time keeping our children on leash,” John Mugwagwa said.

Another victim, Robson Forichi (67), weighed in. “If we had our own homes, we would do a lot of things to look after ourselves.

“I have lost a lot of things in the Tokwe-Mukorsi floods, but government is taking ages to resettle us so that we can pick up the pieces and move on. Look, I have a welding machine here and other gadgets that I can use to make a living, but in this camp, my life is stagnant.”

Forichi, who was still to be given a tent, was looking hopelessly at his heaped property, most of it broken on his way to the transit camp from Tokwe-Mukorsi.

Water is the principal problem the villagers are facing. If they do not have too much of it, they have too little of it. If they are not taking cover from heavy downpours, they are queuing for the precious liquid. There is only one borehole servicing the over 3 400 families at the camp and most of the time, they have to rely on water brought by Unicef, but it would not be enough, the villagers told NewsDay. “Water is a real problem,” Mhurai Musiiwa said. “We are grateful to Unicef, but the water is not enough. Sometimes the deliveries come late and we have to sleep in the queues waiting for the precious liquid.” “We have children and sometimes we are forced not to remove soiled nappies for up to three hours on end because there is no water to bath the kids and then wash their messed clothes. We are afraid there can be a cholera outbreak any time now. Government should resettle us quickly.” The Lowveld is known for receiving little rainfall at the best of times. “We are appealing for government to sink more boreholes to avoid a health disaster,” Musiiwa said.

Mlali Primary School, about 5km from the transit camp, holds close to 2 000 pupils, all taking lessons either under a tree or in grass-thatched classrooms. Each grade has about 300 pupils and is managed by three teachers who take turns to brace the Lowveld heat to the blackboard in the open, while the pupils sit in the dust.

Books are scarce, and so are teaching aids. Adjacent is a secondary school with about 300 pupils, but student enrolment is swelling every day.

Fourteen tents are pitched at the school for the 28 teachers, while the rest walk about 10km to and from the transit camp to school. Pupils have no chairs to sit on; their laps are their desks.

Parents and well-wishers brave the Lowveld heat clearing the ground for their children. Donated books are strewn all over the ground. The teachers have a headache on where and how to keep them, not only in the event of rains, but because of lack of proper buildings.

The situation is just hopeless.

“We were promised by government that soldiers would come and build school blocks and accommodation for teachers, but it has remained a promise,” one parent who refused to be named said.

Early childhood development is not spared. Over 500 infants, with enrolments swelling every day, are learning in the heat with no food and no toilets, as the makeshift toilets are designed for adults.

“We are forced to dismiss early to save the kids from the scorching sun,” Gladmore Run’anga, one of the teachers, said.

Most victims said they were afraid if government took too long to resettle them, donor fatigue would creep in, leaving the villagers at the mercy of starvation.

Soon after the Tokwe-Mukorsi flooding was declared a national disaster, Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo pleaded for donor support to the tune of $200 million to compensate the victims, build infrastructure as well as feed the families until the next harvest in 2015.

Most of the provisions are currently being provided by donors, ranging from tents, food, water, clothing, health support and in many other ways. The United Nations says the ever swelling population at the holding camp was already straining facilities and resources.

UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the current maize food stocks would run out at the end of March, but the situation has already been made precarious by the Monday night rains which socked most of the provisions.

NewsDay observed the presence of many humanitarian organisations including the Red Cross. Voluntary workers have also flooded the transit camp, assisting people in various ways. But for how long will they remain motivated and properly resourced?

Many people who spoke to NewsDay said the problem with the donor support was that there were no long-term solutions. The flood victims are only a week away from starvation should donors pull out.

“Apart from supplying water, donor organisations should also consider sinking more boreholes so that the villagers will have a permanent source of water,” John Mushoma said.

But in the absence of a place they can call their own, donors are hamstrung to provide a lifeline for the victims, another villager, Courage Mahora, observed. However, saddening are reports that there are some people who are helping themselves to the donor goods, while the real needy suffer. Allocations are uniform, regardless of the number of people in a family.

“Figures of victims are inflated, goods are coming, but not all are finding their way to the intended beneficiaries,” a source within the camp who claimed to be privy to the developments told NewsDay.

Opportunists have also come in from various surrounding areas and stuffed themselves in the camp in order to receive free food handouts.

Donor coffers could soon dry up while politics remained a factor. This could spell disaster for the victims. Government has repeatedly said it has no money.

The families are crowded, with tents pitched four metres apart. A cholera outbreak is looming due to persistent water shortages and poor hygienic conditions. Toilets are few as compared to the ever-swelling population in the camp.

By last Friday afternoon, the DA said about 3 400 families were in the camp, while more were still trickling in.

Every morning, the villagers could be seen putting disinfectants provided by donors into the pit latrines to avert a health crisis, but the same cannot be done in the nearby bushes that are littered with human waste.

The flood victims are sitting on a health time bomb. “There can be a cholera outbreak any time and looking at the way we are crammed, all the people will be wiped out,” Joseph Mutusva, a flood victim in the camp, said.

But health officials are battling to contain malaria, while cholera is looming. A health official at the camp told NewsDay on condition of anonymity that malaria, which had already claimed a life, was a threat.

“This is a malaria-infested zone and the people coming from the Tokwe-Mukorsi region are not resistant to the disease. Malaria is fast becoming a menace. We are treating not less than three patients every day,” he said.

The health practitioner said they were also battling to contain scabies that was spreading among children staying in the overcrowded camp. The disease, the health officer said, was caused by living in dirty conditions, particularly when babies do not change nappies regularly.

Crowding would expose the families to airborne diseases too, he said.

Domestic animals are not spared either. Villagers said their goats were now suffering from lumpy-skin disease, while cattle were wasting away due to lack of drugs. Asked to comment Mweneni District Administrator Stanley Chamisa said, “The villagers will be resettled soon. The Ministry of Lands has already dispatched officials here to allocate pieces of land to the victims. This is only meant to be a temporary holding place”.