Legislation on drought relief must be amended to be effective
25 October 2019
Sustained drought conditions are increasingly becoming a part of the South African agricultural context and thus far, drought relief has not been effective seeing as the legislation on it is not taking the urgency of such serious drought conditions into account.
The FF Plus understands the necessity of timely intervention and support during times of severe drought to prevent disasters from occurring in the regions that could actually still be managed, by timely aid and taking precautions, during drought cycles without suffering a total loss of production.
For this very reason, the FF Plus tabled a parliamentary motion yesterday that states that it needs to be acknowledged that the current system of disaster management in drought-stricken areas is neither relevant nor effective.
The motion also requests that the matter must be referred to the Portfolio Committees for Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform as well as Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) to review the current disaster management model and implement legislation that will ensure effective disaster aid.