BY REX MPHISA
AT least 80 people are stranded across Beitbridge district after 21 mud houses collapsed under heavy and persistent Cyclone Eloise influenced rains that are lashing the district.
Yesterday, a villager in Beitbridge West used an inflatable boat to rescue two marooned people whose truck was swept away by a flooded Mtshabezi River.
The men managed to swim and took refugee in a tree in the centre of the river around 1am yesterday and held on until they were rescued.
“The men have been rescued by a villager who used an inflatable boat,” said a villager who sent a celebratory audio to journalists yesterday.
Unconfirmed reports said at least five people were washed away by the raging Limpopo River in a single futile attempt to smuggle cigarettes and liquor into neighbouring South Africa.
An official of the Department of Civil Protection (DCP) said rescue teams from Beitbridge had been dispatched to the area.
“No one has come forward with such reports. We are yet to get any,” said Matabeleland South Police spokesperson Inspector Loveness Mangena in an interview.
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Another two people were reported to be marooned on the Mzingwane River near Zezani Growth Point, some 120 kilometres west of Beitbridge.
The DCP said accessibility of some areas was an immediate challenge with roads and related infrastructure damaged by flash floods and torrential rains.
District development co-ordinator at Beitbridge Sikangezile Mafu said she was appealing to donors to assist in rebuilding homes for the affected.
“That is the way forward now. Some houses whose bricks were made from mud collapsed and we have people stranded,” she said.
“We are asking anyone who can assist and we build homes for these stranded people but get details from my assistant who went to the ground.”
Administrative assistant Jahson Mugodzwa said 21 houses in four different wards had collapsed.
Tropical Cyclone Eloise, which made landfall in Mozambique on Saturday led to heavy rains in the border town as the storm swept across Beitbridge, but was not accompanied by harsh winds.
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