By Staff Reporter
MASVINGO – Villagers in Village 1, Ward 22 in the Mukosi area of Masvingo District have
taken matters into their own hands, joining forces to reclaim a severely degraded gully that was
threatening their access to the main road, water sources, and a nutrition garden, while also
causing siltation in the country’s largest inland water body, Tugwi Mukosi Dam.
The rehabilitation work is being supported by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) in
collaboration with the Global Environment Facility 7th Replenishment (GEF-7).
On March 25, EMA officials, along with representatives from various government departments
and local authorities, toured the site to assess the progress.
During the tour, it was noted that the gully had been developing at a high speed and was cutting
off residents from accessing essential services. Locals admitted that the gully had started on
everyone’s watch but was ignored at first until it became a serious challenge, prompting
intervention from their councilor Peter Marambir.
One resident Rosemary Musara said residents said crossing into the village with vehicles or
scotch carts had become nearly impossible.
“We have our children who work outside and are buying cars. They were not able to reach here
because of the gully. We had the labour but we had no resources or expertise, and we got that
through EMA,” said Musara.
Another villager, Daford Fushai, explained that the gully originated from the Musogwesi River
metres away from its current location, starting around 2013. He said cyclones worsened the
situation until EMA arrived with resources.
He added that villagers now gather stones from a nearby mountain, while Masvingo Rural
District Council provides a tractor to transport the stones to the site.
Village Chairperson Simon Marambire said the community had responded positively when
called upon to contribute their labour.
“When we were called, we heeded. Our people are hard workers and we are doing this work
willingly because it is for our own benefit,” he said.
He also expressed gratitude to their councillor, Peter Marambire, for taking their concerns to
higher offices. He made an appeal for fencing material to protect the newly planted vetiver grass,
which he said was being eaten by cattle, potentially disturbing the rehabilitation process.
Speaking during the visit, Masvingo Provincial EMA Manager Milton Muusha said the problem
was not unique to the area but was widespread across Masvingo and the country at large. He said
the area falls within the catchment of Tugwi Mukosi Dam, the country’s largest dam and a major
investment for irrigation.
“As EMA and other partners, we surveyed the catchment to find challenges, and one of the ones
we identified was this issue of gullies and soil erosion. So we saw it fit to work and address this
problem so that the dam will have a long lifespan,” said Muusha.
He added that the Mukosi community was among those actively working to address such
challenges, which was why other districts were being brought to the area to learn and implement
similar interventions in their respective areas.
EMA Environmental Officer Wilfred Muchono said when they first assessed the site, they
examined how the gully was developing and its catchment area.
“We discovered that the gully’s catchment area was 60 hectares, and one of the major causes of
its rapid development was that some people had extended their fields into the water chain. We
engaged the leadership and managed to revert to the original pegs,” said Muchono.
He further explained that they also found no contour ridges in the area, which allowed runoff
from the fields.
“We managed to develop 10 contour ridges in the area which hold water and direct it to
designated waterways. By the time the water gets there, its speed would have reduced.
“Before we worked here, we started by addressing the upstream areas. So far we have managed
to work on 47 hectares, and we are left with 13 where we will create stone checks to reduce
runoff. We also need to create half-moons to deal with water coming from the mountain,” he
said.
Conservation specialist Innocent Gono from the Department of Mechanisation said the gabions
installed at the site would stop the gully from developing further.
“The gully will not develop from here. After that, we will work on closing the gully by putting
silt traps in the gully bed and work on it for several years until we close it,” said Gono.
