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dam-l Swazi dam causes problems/LS




Gauteng
Dam drinks up land in Swaziland
HENRY GAMA: Mbabane
29 August, 1999
http://www.suntimes.co.za/1999/08/29/news/gauteng/njhb05.htm

A SWAZI community's land is disappearing under a dam, and they're powerless to
stop it, claiming they have been betrayed by false promises of compensation.

Sixteen families at Mashobeni now live alongside the R488-million Driekoppies
Dam, near the Matsamo border post. The dam, which stretches into South Africa,
holds 332 million cubic metres of water.

Community spokesman Mhlupheki Shongwe said this week: "The dam has swallowed up
the nearby Mlumati River, where we used to get clean water. Now there is plenty
of water, but it is not good for drinking. Also, we've lost so much communal
land that there's not enough left for 135 people and 345 cattle."

He said the community used to have 77ha of land. Now they have only 28ha.

The Swazi side of the dam holds 250 million cubic metres, covering 380ha.

Shongwe claimed the Swaziland Komati Project, in charge of compensation and
resettlement to make room for the dam, promised to reallocate the families, but
nothing had been done.

"The project gave me a R70 voucher in July last year to buy food, and that was
it," he said. "We have tried to cultivate the small portion of land remaining
but the cattle destroy it because the project did not put up fences, which it
promised to do." Shongwe also said the dam was infested with crocodiles and
that pythons grabbed their chickens.

Children used to walk 2km across the river to school. Now they have to endure a
daily 20km round trip by bus.

Project spokesman Doctor Lukhele confirmed that a number of complaints had been
received from Mashobeni.
He said the project was installing hand pumps so the families could get clean
water from a bore hole at Madeleni, which is nearby. The project would put in a
water supply system for areas affected by the dam, such as Mashobeni, he said.

He promised that the compensation issue was being addressed. The R70 vouchers
were a temporary measure until the Swazi government worked out an appropriate
formula, he added.

The problem of pupils getting to school was being looked at, and at a later
stage a bridge would be built over the dam, he said. - African Eye News Service

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      Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
        and Editor, World Rivers Review
           International Rivers Network
              1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
                  Tel. (510) 848 1155   Fax (510) 848 1008
                        http://www.irn.org
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