BUDELI – The Minister of Water Affairs, Mr Ronnie Kasrils was moved by a special gift he received from communities around the Nandoni Dam, during the official opening and handing over of houses to more than hundred (400) families who were moved from their original homes, after they were affected by the project of the dam.

Kasrils looked like a young boy given a special gift by Father Christmas after accepting the Nandoni Dam Statue. The neatly crafted statue is made from Leadwood, Combretum imberbe, collected from the dam basin. The Nandoni statue symbolises that all life begins with water.

It depicts the re-birth or new life of the people in the area, brought about by the building of the Nandoni Dam.

It includes traditional values, a historical background and origin of the people and emphasises the fact that water is a life-giving commodity.

The traditional figures and symbols rest on a modern, vase and this acknowledges the contribution of Western technology, the fusion of African/western value systems of labour for survival and growth.

About the three figures in the statue, two maidens symbolise the carriers of new life. The one dressed in a traditional leather skirt, ready for marriage-attended Domba ceremony, and holding a traditional Venda clay pot, resting on larger clay water pot from which water cascades over a Western vase which forms the base, symbolising the contribution of western culture to the building of the dam.

The other woman supports the maiden who carries an empty pot above her head, as well as an ancient Zimbabwean/Mapungubwe type pot in her right hand.

Both figures seem to grow from the source of water. Behind these figures is a powerful man, wearing a traditional loincloth, tsindi, shaping a hoe from iron on top of the furnace, smelting oven, Nando in Venda. The man is depicted as a protector, and is making the artifacts, which will protect them and ensure their survival.

Meshack Raphalalani, an internationally known sculpture who belongs to the Mbedzi clan in Venda, crafted the statue. Meshack is a member of the royal Luvhimbi group and he stays at Tshakhuma.

The Nandoni Dam will eventually cost more than R800 million