Engineers despatched to assess the condition of Manyera Dam in Burma Valley and local farmers have dismissed fears that the dam wall is about to collapse.
The government, through the Manicaland Provincial Department of Civil Protection on Sunday, sent a text message warning settlers downstream of the dam to move to higher places.
The Ministry of Information later rescinded the warning in a statement. The statement reads:
We have been informed that checks by engineers have confirmed that both Witchood and Manyera dam are structurally safe. The earlier cautionary announcement is withdrawn. We thank the agencies for acting on this in a timely manner and avoid unnecessary disruption.
The government’s preparedness to disasters was, however, condemned by human rights activist, Farai Maguwu who said:
I think there is no commitment from the government to help people who are living near the dam. They have just simply said that people should move to higher ground.
They did the same thing in Chimanimani and Chipinge where we have lost lives. They sent a message on Twitter and the majority of people in the areas are not on Twitter.
Loss of lives could have been avoided if the government was serious.
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Its good that the government had issued a warning but must go and remove those people considering that some of them have nowhere to go, we don`t want to continue losing life.