No food security for drought stricken communities
Drought stricken communities in Mzinyoni near Jozini are forced to take what little water is left from a dam in which cattle carcasses lie rotting.
THEIR only water source all but dried up, communities in Mzinyoni near Jozini are on the cusp of a humanitarian disaster as they are forced to take what little water is left from a dam in which cattle carcasses lie rotting.
‘The Mzinyoni ‘Dam’ has shrunk to such an extent that people can no longer draw water from it and the elderly, out of desperation, are wading waist deep into thick mud to try and trap fish, the only thing they can find to eat,’ said Justin Bend, The Siyazisiza Trust’s KZN Provincial Manager.
‘Cattle are dying at a horrifying rate, with many trapped and dying in the thick mud at the edge of the dam – from which people are still extracting water to drink’. ‘The stench of rotting carcasses is over-bearing and, according to project members, people are getting ‘sick’ from drinking the water’.
Cholera fears
Since 1987 the Siyazisiza Trust has been working in rural areas including Jozini, Nkandla, Ulundi and Nongoma, focusing on food security and craft projects. ‘About 30% of our projects are dormant owing to the lack of water,’ said Bend.
He also said the Mzinyoni community, with whom the trust is currently working, has had no running water since 2010 and municipal water tankers fail to deliver to this remote area.
‘Our and all the other vegetable gardens in the area are no longer producing the crops that are so desperately needed by local people,’ said Bend, referring to the lack of water.
Fearing a cholera outbreak, Bend said the situation in Mzinyoni is ‘dire’.
Read more about the Zululand drought HERE
