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George Maponga Masvingo Bureau
Masvingo City’s sole water source and Zimbabwe’s second largest inland dam, Lake Mutirikwi, faces extinction within the next five years, unless urgent interventions are made to arrest siltation caused by a proliferation of illegal settlements in its catchment area. The destruction of the lake, second only to Tokwe-Mukosi in size, will have severe socio-economic consequences for Masvingo Province.

Lake Mutirikwi — with a full water holding capacity of 1,4 million cubic metres — is the sole water supplier for Masvingo City and provides irrigation water for over 30 000 hectares of sugarcane plantations at Triangle and Hippo Valley estates in Chiredzi.

The lake is around 25 percent full, despite above-normal rains that fell in Masvingo which forced other bigger dams to spill.

Experts attributed the lake’s failure to accumulate more water to siltation.

Before last year’s rainy season, its water levels had dropped to less than eight percent.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development (Cropping) Davis Marapira recently confirmed that Lake Mutirikwi was under siege.

“In five years’ time, we will have no Lake Mutirikwi to talk about if we do not act now and act very fast,’’ he said in an interview.

“Lake Mutirikwi is under serious threat from siltation and we have said it before that the problems are being caused by village heads and lands officials who are illegally parcelling out land in areas like Chidzikwe, Hwendedzo, right up to Chidza which are at the heart of Lake Mutirikwi’s catchment area.’’

Deputy Minister Marapira said there was need to flush out hundreds of illegal settlers along the tributaries of Lake Mutirikwi, namely Pokoteke, Mazare and Mucheke rivers.

“These illegal settlers have to be moved and moved out now because if we do not do that we will have no dam in half a decade from now,” he said.

“Unscrupulous headmen and village heads under Chiefs Musara and Zimuto are illegally parcelling out land to desperate land hungry people and we have spoken out about this, but nothing is yet to be done.’’

University of Zimbabwe Department of Geography and Environmental Science chairman Professor Amos Murwira said while he could not comment on the severity of the situation at Lake Mutirikwi, research shows that where there was higher land cover, there would be less siltation.

“Lake Mutirikwi, as you know, is composed of many settlements not necessary illegal but they have been contributing to siltation. We have not quantified the causes between illegal and legal settlers but Mutirikwi Dam settlement is densely settled. It has communal areas from Serima, Gutu as well as Zimuto.

“I cannot boldly say we won’t have a dam in five years but the issue of settlements in the Mutirikwi Catchment is a fact.”

Professor Murwira said studies in Mutirikwi, Umzingwane and Sanyati had demonstrated that any increase in bare areas exponentially increases the rate of siltation in rivers and dams.

“We know, for a fact that any decrease in woodland exponentially contributes to the rate the river is silted. Our studies in Mutirikwi have demonstrated any increase in bare areas exponentially increase the rate of siltation in catchment area,” he said.

The Zimbabwe National Water Authority corporate communications and marketing manager Mrs Marjorie Munyonga confirmed that the threat of siltation was lurking at Lake Mutirikwi.

She urged communities to refrain from activities that promote siltation, saying plans were underway to embark on desilting some of the heavily silted rivers and dams.

“Generally, our reservoirs around the country are getting silted because of human activities such as stream bank cultivation and mining activities,” she said.

“The threat of siltation is imminent at Lake Mutirikwi because of illegal settlers in the catchment area,” she added.

Deputy Minister Marapira said Masvingo would experience unprecedented socio-economic repercussions if Lake Mutirikwi was allowed to die.

He said the prerogative to allocate land in former commercial resettlement areas which constitute a large fraction of Lake Mutirikwi catchment area lay with the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement.

‘’The biggest question is: why are village heads parcelling out land in former commercial farming areas when it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Lands?” he said. “Those who are distributing land in these areas are acting illegally and will one day face the music.’’

Deputy Minister Marapira said Lake Mutirikwi was useful to the economic status of Masvingo.

‘’We cannot allow a dam that irrigates over 30 000 hectares of cane fields to die just like that because of siltation,” he said. “Unlawful settlement of people has to be stopped if we are to save our dam.’’

Besides supplying irrigation water to the Lowveld and Masvingo city, Lake Mutirikwi also provides water for irrigating small-scale irrigation schemes downstream.

The dam is also a major source of fish, with thousands of families sustaining themselves through commercial fisheries business.

Lake Mutirikwi is also a tourist attraction and major hotels in the dam’s immediate environments such as Lodge at the Ancient City and Great Zimbabwe Hotel also benefit from both domestic and foreign visitors.

Built in 1960, Lake Mutirikwi covers 90 square kilometres, with its catchment area straddling for about 3 900 square kilometres.