Heavy rains keep Campbell residents up at night

While many communities in the Vhembe region are rejoicing over the current much-needed rain, for others it means an endless struggle to clean up flooded houses and trying to save what can be saved of their possessions from water damage.

Households staying in Campbell in Musina say that they are tired to the bone after more heavy rain fell over in the region on Monday, 22 February. Residents claim that their RDP houses, which are situated in a low-lying area, is everything but rain-proof and that the current rainfall is keeping them up at night. They are desperate for help.

“We experience this situation whenever it rains. As a community we look towards the municipality for a way forward, since we are losing our belongings,” said Jurie Makhavhi.

Makhavhi occupied his RDP house in Campbell in 2018 and he reckons that there’s no sleeping at night for any of them when it rains hard. “I have to use buckets to scoop water from the rooms. What worries me most is that my furniture gets damaged every time it rains. We are calling on the municipality to intervene,” said Makhavhi.

Sewani Kaunda, who lives next to the RDP houses said: “In such a situation the municipality officials should visit all areas to assess the damage and how the community is being affected.”

Wilson Dzebu, spokesperson for the Musina municipality, posted a message on the Musina Residents’ WhatsApp group on 22 February to show that the municipality was aware of the havoc caused by heavy rains. The mayor also undertook to visit some of the affected areas and send out members of the disaster team to assess the situation.

By Wednesday, 25 February, Campbell residents said that neither the mayor nor any other municipal official had yet visited their area.

News in brief - Date: 25 February 2021

Bernard Chiguvare

Bernard Chiguvare is a Zimbabwean-born journalist. He writes mainly for the online publication, Groundup.

Email: [email protected]