ESWATINI: Residents still stuck with tooth decay crisis linked to borehole water

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Residents still stuck with tooth decay crisis linked to borehole water

Saturday Observer (Eswatini) - August 30, 2025

By Melisa Msweli

Over a year and a half since sounding the alarm, the community of Mzimvubu under Dumenkungwini Chiefdom in Shiselweni I continues to suffer in silence, with no tangible help from authorities regarding their children’s alarming dental health condition believed to be caused by their only water source.

In January last year, residents raised a desperate call for assistance, revealing that at least 35 households were affected by severe tooth decay among children. The community linked the issue to water from a borehole installed in 1997 by government in collaboration with the Japanese government. Today, residents say they are still waiting and their children are still suffering.

According to Bucopho Bafanabodvwa Sithole, the ministry of natural resources and energy sent officials from the ministry to take water samples shortly after they raised the alarm. However, he confirmed that the team never returned with results or feedback. “I even went to follow up at Nhlangano rural water, but to this day nothing has been done,” said Sithole, voicing the growing frustration of a community. The issue is not just medical, but deeply emotional and social. Parents shared how the situation has shattered their children’s self-esteem, relationships and future prospects. The trend observed is that children who started drinking the borehole water before losing their milk teeth are the most affected. Those who had permanent teeth when the borehole was drilled appear unaffected. They shared that rotting incisors and canines, foul-smelling breath and teeth that crumble at the slightest touch have become a common sight. In some cases, the parents shared that the children have dropped out of school or returned home from South Africa, where they were mocked for their appearance. One parent recounted how his son, humiliated by a girlfriend over his dental condition, returned home and locked himself in a room.

A mother of nine said all but her eldest child were affected by the mysterious tooth decay while another elderly woman stated that what was meant to be a lifesaving water source has instead robbed their children of dignity and opportunity.

The residents recalled that when the borehole was first dug, the water appeared yellowish and rocks from the drilling were soft and crumbled easily, similar to what they are now seeing with their children’s teeth. They suspect high fluoride levels or other contaminants could be to blame.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy Chief Water Engineer Musawenkhosi Mwelase said Mzimvubu was a water-stressed zone with very limited surface water sources and insignificant subsurface yields due to the unfavourable geological setting and low groundwater recharge from rainfall. He explained that these natural conditions further affect water quality, as salinity and fluoride levels tend to be high and noted that the country has several similar cases. Salinity and fluoride, he said, are not easily removed by primitive methods and any remedy is site-specific, depending on factors such as local geology, subsurface recharge potential and micro-climate conditions.

Mwelase confirmed that the borehole in Mzimvubu was declared unfit at development stage, but was retained for longterm monitoring and research purposes. He said sustained exploration for safer subsurface water sources in the vicinity has so far yielded no positive results. “Efforts to find improved water quality sources in the area and its surroundings have proved futile, and at present groundwater remains the only readily and consistently available option, despite its deteriorated quality,” he said.

He added that the ministry was currently carrying out nationwide water quality mapping, prioritising production wells that supply many rural communities, to inform planning, service prioritisation and evidence-based decisionmaking. He said places like Mzimvubu would require a large-scale project to pipe water from alternative systems.

SOURCE:
https://www.pressreader.com/eswatini/sa ... 1405079047