Persistent lack of water is forcing a rural community in Limpopo to rely on a crocodile-infested river for drinking and bathing.
According to Tshitomboni residents outside Thohoyandou, at least four villagers were attacked and killed in the past two years as they tried to fetch water or bath at the Nandoni Dam.
Humbelani Mudzanani, 25, is the latest victim of a crocodile attack after her mutilated body was found floating in the Nandoni River about 200m from her homestead.
Her family said she left home in the morning of New Year's Day to bath because there was no water at home. She never returned.
Her mother Alvina Munyai said due to lack of water, Mudzanani decided to go to the river to bath.
"She left around 11am carrying a black bucket which she was going to use to draw water. Her sister went to check on her in the river and she couldn't find her but her phone was ringing," Munyai said.
Munyai said that the next day she summoned help from neighbours to embark on a search mission.
"We looked everywhere and when we went to the spot where she usually went for bathing we only found a bar of soap. And when we went further we found her wet clothes that she was wearing hanging on a tree," she said.
Munyai said had the authorities provided water, her daughter would still be alive as she would have taken her bath at home.
She said her daughter's body was found 400m away from the spot where they found her soap.
In January 2019, Thinavhudzulo Ramadzhiela was killed by a crocodile in the same river. His sister Tshimangadzo said: "He left me at home and said he was going to take a bath [at the river]. He then disappeared and his body was found two days later floating in the river with severe injuries."
Vhembe district municipality spokesperson Moses Shibambu didn't respond to Sowetan questions about lack of water in the area, at the time of going to print.
However, when Sowetan visited the area water was flowing from the communal taps.
A community leader, Thomas Lebusha, said most times residents were left with no other options but to take a high risk at crocodile-infested river to survive.
"We have been suffering for water since back in 2008 till now and the authorities don't seem to care. Humbelani is the fourth victim since 2019 and every time these attacks happen we reiterate our water predicament to the Vhembe district municipality but there has been no help," he said.
Lebusha said after Ramadzhiela's gnawed body was found floating in the river in 2019, two more people died last year.
"Again last year we lost one Raphelani Nephawe and a Zimbabwean national who were killed [by crocodiles]. The body count keeps on climbing and there is no permanent solution."
Resident Peter Mathalise said he paid R3,500 to the municipality in 2007 for the installation of a water tap in his yard but it only worked for few months.
"I paid for a service that didn't work for me and my family because we only had water for six months. Since then I have never seen a single drop of water coming out from the tap," he said.
Mathalise said some of the residents can't afford buy water from those who sell it from bottles.
"Those who can afford pay R2 for a 25 litres and the majority who are poor are forced to go to the river and face the crocodiles."
The menace of the giants of the river also affects local livestock farmers who occasionally lose their animals to the crocs.
Wilson Mulaudzi said he lost two of his goats after they were attacked while roaming on the banks of the river.
"The crocodiles are multiplying in that river and if the authorities are not careful we'll end up with no livestock. Two of my goats were killed last year and I found the heads floating alongside the river banks," he said.
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