NTABAZINDUNA villagers have complained that Umguza Rural District Council (RDC) is playing dead over the scooping of silt from Luthi Dam.
Ntabazinduna Luthi (B) village head Alford Khumalo told Southern Eye that silt has been a problem for a long time now.
“We are very worried about the behaviour that we are getting from the RDC. We have since reported to them that we need them to scoop out the silt, to no avail,” Khumalo said.
He said they did not understand why the local authority was neglecting them yet it used to fetch water from the dam.
“Umguza RDC used to collect water from the dam using bowsers, but now that it is silted, it has abandoned it and it is not willing to scoop out the silt,” he said.
Khumalo said they were worried because the rainy season was approaching, hence they feared that once it rains, the dam might spill over and retain less water due to the silt.
“Once the dam spills, we are likely to lose a lot of water. Scooping the dam will at least increase the volume of water in it,” he said.
The village head said he approached the Provincial Affairs and Devolution minister and he assured him that a scooper was available, adding that he did not know why the authorities were not scooping the dam.
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“I also approached the councillor for ward 5 and he promised that he was going to bring the issue to the attention of the local authority,” Khumalo said.
Ward 5 councillor, Mfazo Mpunzi said he held a meeting with residents recently and reached a consensus on how they could get the job done.
“I had a meeting with the residents and we all agreed to mobilise resources and get diesel for the available local authority [scooper]. Residents revealed that it has been almost 20 years since the dam silted,” Mpunzi said.
He said they agreed that each resident would contribute US$1 for the diesel.
