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dam-l Left high and dry by broken promises/LS
This is from a colleague in Kwazulu Natal....
Article from the Sunday Times -KZN METRO 14-11-99
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Left high and dry by broken promises
Community rues the day it was forced to make way for dam
INGRID SALGADO
A COMMUNITY booted off land to make way for a dam that is quenching
Durban's thirst has been without water since the beginning of the year.
Members of about 400 families of the KwaDinabakubo community in Molweni,
northwest of Durban, have to walk up to two kilometres each day to fill
buckets from a solitary tap in the area.
More than 12 years ago, water was plentiful as the Umgeni River flowed past
their homesteads, nourishing the crops and livestock on which they
subsisted.
"We came here as humans, but now we are just animals," said Mbikwa Ndlela,
61, who told this week how members of the amaNgcolosi tribe were dumped in
Molweni in 1987 when authorities carved Inanda Dam into the landscape.
The water supply to the community was cut off in January when it could no
longer afford payments.
"We are dying here. Our human nature is denigrated," Ndlela said.
His words are echoed across the globe. The homes of up to 60-million people
worldwide have been flooded to make way for about 40 000 large dams.
Their accounts are being collated for the World Commission on Dams, led by
Education Minister Kader Asmal, who previously held the water affairs
portfolio. The commission is conducting the first independent assessment of
large dams, in order to establish standards for future dam construction.
Representatives of South African communities met in Cape Town this week to
tell their stories. The hearing will feed into an African meeting scheduled
for Cairo in December.
Delegates to the Cairo meeting will hear how members of the amaNgcolosi,
amaQadi and amaPhephetha tribes are still awaiting compensation for being
removed from 900ha of land to make way for Inanda Dam. The amaQadi allege
that they have not seen a cent of the R5,6-million cheque given to community
leader Inkosi Mjonjani Ngcobo by the government.
"Inkosi said the money is not for those of us removed from the land, but for
all of his people," said O'Brien Gcabashe, spokesman for the displaced
group, most of whose members now live in Ntuzuma.
According to Paulos Gwala, representing the amaPhephetha, the former
government's promises of a free water supply and transport for their
schoolgoing children have not been met.
"Most of the people are not working - they did not choose this kind of life.
It must be remembered that these families have been relying on the land
through farming," he said.
Like members of the amaPhephetha, the amaNgcolosi lost most of their
belongings in 1987 when the devastating Demoina floods caused the level of
the half-built dam to rise.
"We heard that officials had closed the dam wall down the river," said
Mlungisi Khanyeza, who was 12 when his family fled from the encroaching
water. "I think it was another way to force the people out because we were
not in favour of moving," he added.
Eunice Msomi, 53, said former government officials promised the community
four-room houses. "But we are still living in tin houses. Nobody cares if we
boil in the summer and freeze in the winter."
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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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