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SA gov't urged to follow SADC by declaring current drought "national crisis"

Xinhua, March 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) on Friday urged the government to deal with the current drought with the same urgency demonstrated by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

This came after the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said the severe drought has forced the SADC to declare the drought a regional crisis.

But the SA government is still resisting calls to declare the drought a national crisis, according to the DA.

Most worrying at the moment, though, is that if international food aid to the SADC region is provided, it will not be extended to South Africa, due to the government not declaring the drought a national disaster, the DA said.

"Appreciating the seriousness of this, it is completely inexplicable that the government refuses to do the right thing and declare this a national disaster," said Annette Steyn, DA Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The current drought gripping Southern Africa is now affecting 60 million people, according to the FAO.

In South Africa, more than two million households are affected.

A recent report by the SA Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheres paints a dire picture of the drought's effects on South Africans.

According to the report, the preliminary crop estimate for 2016 is the lowest since 2007, 25 percent lower than 2015, which was in turn 30 percent less than 2014. Reported livestock losses in seven of the nine provinces stands at 186, 340. Only 42, 000 of the 246, 000 farmers affected by the drought are currently receiving assistance from the government, and it is estimated that 12 billion rand (about 800 million US dollars) is needed to assist all affected farmers.

The Department of Water and Sanitation said that it will take at least three years for the country's dams -- currently at an average level of 53.5 percent compared to 80 percent the time last year -- to return to acceptable levels of operational capacity.

The department said that rainfall experienced over December/January had no significant effect on dam levels and that below average rainfall and above average heat is expected for at least the next three months.

The government should declare the drought a national disaster, so that a concerted and coordinated effort can be initiated to combat the crippling effects of the drought, the DA said. Enditem