Lepasha Village Under Water Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe

Monkagedi Gaothobogwe | Monday February 10, 2014 16:30

For 12 days, perennial rains fell on the village, followed by heavy downpours for four days leaving the village completely submerged in the flooding waters and a trail of disaster.  In the past few days, traditional mud huts have collapsed with majority of residents struggling to keep the water at-bay with little success.

According to the village headman, Mmoloki Paper Tshabisa seven huts were already in collapsing state, while more could give in should it continue to rain.

“I can see the clouds are threatening once again, it is not a good sign,” said Tshabisa.

The floods have reduced Lepasha into an island. According to the Kgosi, the village is between two rivers, Lepasha River in the north and Matsitama in the south and west. And now with the river overflowing, it has been impossible to enter or leave the village in the past two weeks,.

Tshabisa said when the two rivers flooded two weeks ago, four teachers including the head-teacher of the only primary school, were trapped outside the village and only managed to get in on Saturday morning when the water subsided. He said that a nurse was also trapped outside for days, while the only ambulance for the clinic could not cross any of the rivers.

“The ambulance had to be retired to Tutume sub-district council, while the driver has been staying in another village (Mosetse) for two weeks, waiting for the waters to go down,” said Tshabisa.

“It is terrible because we need the ambulance for critical services like ARVs.  Some people on ARVs are telling me they ran out of medication for days now,” said the Kgosi. Also, said Tshabisa, three stores in the village have run out of stock. “There is nothing in the shops to buy, because vehicles could not drive out or drive in, due to the flood situations.

Our elderly people (the pensioners) are suffering; they usually take food from the shops on credit but they are being turned away now because the shops are empty.”

He added that a truck delivering pensioners’ wages got stuck in the mud two kilometres from the village early Saturday after it successfully negotiated the Matsitama River.  More concerning is that the flooded rivers are spilling water into the village, and with rains still threatening, the chief said the villagers are worried.