Rudolf Gaiseb 

Residents of Ndiyona and Ncorosa villages in the Kavango East region are grappling with acute shortage of water, forcing the locals to queue up from as early as 3 a.m. to fill up their containers with the limited water supply they get. 

Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) legislator Michael Mulunga recently called for urgent intervention from government through the line ministry, saying the suffering of Ndiyona and Ncorosa residents is a “national shame.”

The communities have been drinking from shallow, dirty wells shared with livestock, dogs and wildlife, Mulunga told fellow parliamentarians. 

“The only boreholes at this villages were drilled decades ago and are now either destroyed or too saline, and nothing has been done to replace them. Children attend schools unwashed, while families wake up at 3 a.m. to queue for water. Bathing has become a privilege,” he said. 

He urged government to uphold the most basic right to water and dignity and adhere to international protocols on water and health. Last month, in the same region, 33 learners were hospitalised for drinking dirty water at a hostel. 

Following the incident, the education minister Sanet Steenkamp shared that all affected learners have fully recovered and assured swift interventions for proper and standard hostel management. 

Meanwhile, Mulunga further called on the agriculture ministry to act swiftly and drill boreholes with water fit for human and animal consumption and fitted with proper protection. The minister is expected to respond with strict deadlines as to when and how this will be achieved today in Parliament. 

-rrgaiseb@gmail.com