ANC fiddles while Kalahari burns

10 August 2021

After numerous unanswered calls to members of the Northern Cape provincial government, the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the province urges premier Zamani Saul to address the destruction of runaway fires in the Kalahari.

By Monday, 70 000 hectacres of arable land stretching from Kathu to Daniëlskuil was destroyed. It seems that fires originated within the Lohatlha Military Base on Sunday and worsened because the army’s firebreaks, built four years ago, were not maintained by Lohatlha Military Base. Failure to maintain firebreaks in these drought-prone conditions is criminal negligence.

On Tuesday, I spoke with the DA’s Shadow Minister of Defence, Kobus Marais, who will escalate this matter to the Minister of Defence, Thandi Modise. We hope that she prioritises efforts to extinguish fires and assist farmers in distribution of water and fodder.

Considering the impact of ongoing droughts, the loss of thousands of hectacres is a crisis. If government continues to turn a blind eye, this crisis will escalate into a catastrophe for agriculture and food security.

Neither the MEC for Agriculture, Land Reform & Rural Development Mase Manopole nor the MEC for Co-operative Governance Bentley Vass were available on Monday when I tried to alert them. The DA suggests that government needs to coordinate firefighting efforts with groups like Working on Fire for greater support, including resources like helicopters.

In this regard, it is shocking to note that two new firefighting vehicles donated a while ago to municipal authorities were not be used. When authorities were asked by farmers to deploy these vehicles, it was said that the vehicles cannot be used before a photo was taken with the mayor. This is utterly unacceptable. A photo opportunity cannot supercede the lives and livelihoods of our farming communities.

If it wasn't for the tireless efforts of volunteers, like the DA’s aspirant candidate Andre Schoeman from Rhino Security, the fires would have caused even greater devastation. We applaud the volunteers.

But it is worrying that, whenever a crisis occurs, communities are left to fend for themselves without assistance or support from government.

Issued by Willie Aucamp, DA Northern Cape Constituency Head of Kalahari, 10 August 2021