DA welcomes Agri Dept’s commitment to ensure maximum relief with drought funding
14 March 2018
The DA welcomes recommendations made by Northern Cape MEC of Agriculture, Norman Shushu, that pending drought relief still to be discharged by national, should be provided to farmers via vouchers, thereby cutting out the “middle-man scenario”, which sees emergency funding being wasted on tenderpreneurs.
Shushu’s recommendations were made at a House Sitting in Niewoudtville today, in response to a parliamentary question posed by myself.
Last year, it came to light that the National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) made use of ANC cadre, Emmanuel Thabes Setloboko, who unsuccessfully contested Ward 6 in Phokwane Municipality during the 2016 local government elections, to facilitate the R25 million drought relief programme in the Northern Cape.
It is suspected that Setloboko may have pocketed about R7 million of the funds intended for drought relief, purchasing a Bentley with his profits.