Aina Simon

OSHAKATI - The persistent drought affecting the entire country is expected to worsen in Oshana Region’s Uuvudhiya grazing area where more than 500 000 cattle mainly from Oshana, Oshikoto, and Omusati regions compete for grazing and scarce water resources.

The unavailability of water was caused by poor rainfall in the area for the third consecutive year and by the recent technical problem experienced by NamWater which hindered the normal pumping of water from Calueque Dam. 
Previously by this time, farmers relied on Lake Oponona in Uuvudhiya Constituency and some communal taps to provide water for their animals. 

Unfortunately, the poor rainfall also resulted in less water that supplies the lake through the Cuvelai Basin. Thus, Lake Oponona is also slowly drying up.

Modestus Matias, a resident of Oshaale shEenghoshi village surrounding Lake Oponona, described this year’s situation as worrisome; he said the lake has turned salty as early as March, which was not the case in the previous years. “It is too early to have too many cattle from neighbouring regions, they normally come around in August but this year they came early as February and we are already competing for water; the lake has turned salty, meaning we have to use communal taps, of which we are already in debts,” expressed Matias.

Matias further indicated he is along the Oniizimba pipeline which incurred debts amounting to N$1.6 million adding that the skyrocketing debts is caused by the current situation. “They normally use our water and when rain comes, they drive their cattle back and leave us in debts,” says Matias.

Uuvudhiya Constituency councillor Amutenya Ndahafa indicated that Namwater has commenced with the pumping of water in the pipelines and it is a matter of few days before the water reaches all water points in the grazing area. However, Ndahafa blames communities that are obstructing the normal flow of water by cutting pipelines or filling their water tanks first, saying that they deny other people access to water at this time of need. “I’m calling on all peace-loving Namibians to refrain from obstructing the normal flow of water and urge them to report any such incidences or water leakages to any councillor or NamWater office,” stressed Ndahafa. Currently, farmers farthest away from the grazing areas are transporting water to their cattle posts in tanks and jerry cans as the distance from salty Lake Oponona to their posts is not conducive for their cattle to walk while they are waiting for the pumped water to reach their communal taps. 

The grazing area is described as sustaining in the meantime. However, Ndahafa is calling on government to start distributing animal feeds to all parts of the country as it is currently only happening in some regions.

*Aina Simon is an Information Officer at the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) based in Oshana Region