Help on the way for three drought-stricken provinces
THE Eastern Cape will officially be declared a national disaster area by March 15.
The declaration will see different national and provincial government departments working together to ensure farmers receive the necessary relief while groundwater exploration continues for water to be used by residents.
The scheduled declaration by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister Des van Rooyen follows a reclassification of the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Northern Cape as national disaster areas on Tuesday last week.
Cogta spokesman Legadima Leso said consultation aimed at working on a programme of action between various government departments was under way.
The three provinces also submitted requests for funding, with the Eastern Cape asking for R7.7-billion for drought alleviation.
Leso said Van Rooyen was considering the requests from the three provinces and an announcement would be made once it had been decided how much each province would receive.
The declaration would also be gazetted in parliament, after which the programme of action being drawn up would be implemented.
“There are plans in place to ensure that when the declaration is official then at least we are clear in terms of who does what – various departments will have roles,” Leso said.
The declaration would also help provinces that did not make requests but were in even more dire situations.
The departments included are agriculture, land reform, water and sanitation, and disaster management.
“Since the drought began in 2014, the government has spent over R2.4-billion across all provinces,” Leso said.
He said while it was unclear when any money would be released, the processes would be shorter during a national disaster than they normally were.
For agriculture, money would be allocated to farmers so they could water their crops and get livestock feed.
Leso said the most urgent intervention at present was the drilling of boreholes.
“Disaster management, agriculture and environment, water and sanitation will all come in, and all will bring in the support to the affected provinces,” he said.