Lepashe: Water gives life but it can also take life.
Water becomes deadly when the right safety measures are not taken to protect and ensure the safety of citizens or when someone is not doing their job properly. The dangers of water have been observed in the recent events where boats capsized in the Chobe River where unfortunately three lives were lost.
The recent overflowing of the Motloutse River also caused great damage to not only roads and rail, but to natural inhabitants such as plants and animals. In Gaborone’s Block 8, a young child drowned in storm drainage after heavy rains.
While for other Batswana, these hazards are seasonal, for residents of Lepashe village in the Tutume sub-district, the dangers of water are a daily threat. The village lies between the Matsima and Lepashe rivers. Villagers here have no electricity or tarred roads, but their biggest problem is that the rivers have risen due to recent rains and they have no bridge to cross out to other areas.
According to terrified villagers, the matter has been raised constantly over the years but no action has been taken by authorities.
‘’Should more bodies pile up before we get a bridge,” a resident asked this week.
Residents of Lepashe say they are worried that young children and even adults might drown attempting to cross out of the village. Villagers report that about six years ago, one villager drowned while trying to cross the rivers.
“During that incident, four other people escaped with injuries,” another villager said. “When the rivers are filled to the brim like this month, there is no crossing to the other side or going to other villages. “The rivers lock us in the village.”
Lepashe has a small clinic, but most accidents have to be referred to Tutume Primary Clinic or Dukwi Clinic because these are better equipped. When the two rivers are full, patients referred to other clinics pay a heavy price because they cannot travel outside Lepashe.
A concerned villager Lapologang Tabafana says on December 15, someone had come from outside the village to pay Ipelegeng workers.
“They were stuck on the other side of the village because the rivers were full. “Ipelegeng employees had to come up with a plan of their own by using a truck to go get their payment even though it was dangerous. “We are worried that if a bridge is not built, more people will lose their lives to the two rivers.”
Another villager, Kabo Lebang says the swollen rivers and lack of a bridge are causing all manner of disruption and threats to residents of Lepashe.
“We once used boats to cross the rivers. Dikoloi tsa puso le tsa batho di swetse teng. It’s so painful because leruo la batho le nna four weeks mo masakeng.’’
As welcome as the rains are across the country, for some villagers they are a painful reminder of the dangers of underdevelopment.
