For 47-year-old terminally ill Artwell Mandava from Mwenezi district in Zimbabwe’s Masvingo Province, reaching the nearest clinic in his area has become impossible, rendered so by two flooded rivers lying between his village and access to life-prolonging drugs.

Maranda clinic is 16 kilometres from his homestead. Mandava does not hide what ails him.

“I’m HIV positive and because of the rains that have resulted in Mushawi and Chipwe rivers flooding, I cannot reach Maranda clinic to collect ARVs,” Mandava told RNW his predicament, adding that this has resulted in him skipping medication, placing his life in danger.

Mandava is amongst hundreds of villagers in this part of Zimbabwe thrown into a quagmire because of the floods.

Homes destroyed, crops lost

According to Save Lives Zimbabwe, a community-based relief organisation in Mwenezi district, large numbers of villagers across the district have been affected by the floods.

“At least 8120 villagers in Mwenezi have been seriously affected by the floods, some have had their homes destroyed while others have lost their crops. “Thousands of school-going children are failing to attend school because of flooded rivers and streams,” Merit Chikwava, director of SLZ, told RNW.

The SLZ director also said 97 rural homesteads have been submerged by the floods.

Chikwava also charged that “the government is delaying to salvage the situation through too much protocol amid the worsening disaster.”

Emergency services

Civil Protection Unit director, Madzudzo Pawadyira confirmed the magnitude of the disaster.

“The food situation is bad in Mwenezi in the wake of the floods and there is urgent need to assist those affected.”

The Civil Protection Unit, through Zimbabwe’s Civil Protection Act (Chapter 10.06), is mandated with the responsibility of emergency management and disaster prevention of both natural and man-made hazards.

Its major function is to prepare for, prevent and mitigate the effects of disasters.

Pawadyira said the floods have not only affected people in Mwenezi, but over 8 000 other villagers from Chiredzi and parts of Mberengwa district in this Southern African nation’s Midlands Province.

Zivanai Muzorodzi, Programs manager for the Community Tolerance Reconciliation and Development (COTRAD), a Zimbabwean civic organisation, said many families have lost their homes to floods in Mwenezi district.

Local authorities are not sure if rescue will reach this part of the country.

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