Runaway veld fires continue its destruction due to an impotent North West government
23 August 2023
The DA in North West will again write to the MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA) and the Acting Premier Nono Maloyi, demanding that action plans be put into place throughout the province to effectively prevent and fight runaway veld fires.
Thousands of hectares of land were destroyed and hundreds of heads of cattle and wildlife were burnt by a runaway veld fire in the JB Marks Local Municipality along the Ventersdorp Road stretching well into the Rietspruit area. (See images here, here, here and here)
Similar to a runaway veld fire that destroyed thousands of hectares of prime land in the Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site earlier this month, the JB Marks fire department failed to respond to this fire effectively.
Again it was up to farmers, community members, the local Fire Protection Association and private farm patrols who put their own lives at risk to protect themselves, their families, their properties and their livelihoods to extinguish the fire.
More than 100 private vehicles, including Firefighting Skid units, tractors and privately owned bakkies attended to the fire. The JB Marks fire department could only dispatch a single Land Cruiser and a Command Vehicle, claiming a lack of resources.
The Ventersdorp/Rietspruit area suffered a massive fire in August 2011, resulting in the loss of farm infrastructure and the destruction of almost 300 000 hectares of natural grazing land and the loss of livestock to the value of R43 million.
The DA has urged and cautioned the North West provincial and local governments to adequately prepare for the annual fire season by ensuring that resources are made available to effectively respond to fires and to improve on preventative strategies to limit destruction.
Unfortunately, it is evident that the ANC in government could not be bothered to fulfil its mandate under the National Veld and Forest Fire (Act 101 of 1998).
Government departments and municipalities fail to comply with Chapter 4 of the Act which, amongst other regulations, neglect to bring required fire breaks on state-owned land. In addition, the establishment of a standard operating procedure should be included in the disaster management plan, which should establish working agreements between government authorities, the provincial and local disaster management centres, provincial and local fire protection associations and other key stakeholders to ensure the speedy activation of resources to fight fires and limit damage.
Instead, in North West, due to government’s neglect, fire departments remain understaffed, under-funded and suffer severe shortages of firefighting vehicles. This largely leaves disaster management centres incapable of effectively mobilising teams to extinguish fire and results in the destruction of property and the loss of life.
The ANC governed North West Provincial Government has no contingency activation plans for fires in rural areas. Veld fires are a common occurrence at this time of year but they can very quickly turn into catastrophic disasters. Year after year the farmers lose wildlife, grazing land, planted crops and livestock due to the government's failure to adequately prepare for the annual fire season.
In the Western Cape, our DA-led government has over the years increased and improved its disaster management plans. Our government has expanded the Western Cape’s aerial firefighting capabilities, employed additional manpower, established quality working agreements with all firefighting associations and other stakeholders and continue to allocate funding towards preventing and combatting veld fires. Through these efforts the DA-led government has effectively limited the extend of destruction to property, grazing, wildlife, cattle and the safety of people. We can do the same in North West if people register to vote DA in next year’s election.
Issued by Gavin Edwards, DA Spokesperson on Agriculture, 23 August 2023
