Lack of funds to repair a broken water tank that supplies water to three villages in the Kongola Constituency, has left inhabitants without water for the past three months.

This was confirmed by Kongola Constituency councillor Bennet Busihu in an interview with Nampa, when approached for comment about the challenges the constituency is facing after one the community leaders complained about water scarcity and slow response from the councillor’s office.

The villages in question are Muyako, Queensland and Choi in Kongola in Zambezi.

Queensland community leader Martin Lukato, who is also the president of the National Democratic Party, said the three villages with a combined population of between 3 000 and 4 000 people have been sharing one water tank for many years, but it is now out of order leaving villagers and their livestock without water for three months now.

He said they are currently getting water from another village which is around three kilometres away, but that village is also experiencing water shortage and the other area that has sufficient water is 12 kilometres away.

“It is dry here, the only way we get water is by hiring someone with a bakkie to bring us water, but that is only when we have money to pay the person. If you don’t have money then you stay without water for days. The situation is tense and needs those people in power who are in charge and control over resources to intervene urgently,” said Lukato.

Busihu told Nampa that he is aware of the situation as it has been dragging on for years, but the delay is caused by the lack of funds and the available budget does not indicate how much should be spent on repairing broken boreholes and how many new ones should be constructed.

“As you know that we just came in the office now and we are trying to put our house in order to make sure we identify issues that need urgent attention. Yes, there are a lot of people who need water with their animals, I know about the issue of Queensland but money is a problem now, and for Choi there are a lot of people and we were thinking of constructing a borehole that will be central, but we still need a budget for that,” said Busihu.

He added that his office has put up a temporary water tank at Choi’s primary school which the community can access for now, while his office awaits budgetary provision to construct a borehole with a solar system that will cater to a large number of people.

Source: Namibia Press Agency