R55m to assist those affected by drought in EC
The Eastern Cape government has set aside R55m for drought relief.
This forms part of the R675m the province received to adjust its budget for the remaining few months before the end of term.
Tabling his maiden mid-term budget speech at the Bhisho legislature on Thursday, finance MEC Oscar Mabuyane said the R55m included R20m to buy fodder as part of the state’s comprehensive agricultural support programme to support farmers in Sarah Baartman and Amathole Districts as well as Nelson Mandela Bay Metro.
The Port Elizabeth-based metro in May this year introduced water restrictions and tariffs after overall dam levels dipped below 30%, placing the metro in a water emergency situation.
The Bay has yet to reach its target of 250 megalitres per day (Ml-d) set in January last year, despite the somewhat wet November.
Similar challenges affected Amathole district residents in areas such as Butterworth, Dutywa and Fort Beaufort/Alice area, which saw ADM mayor Nomfusi Nxawe introducing regular water cuts in the area from time to time in the past two years.
Mabuyane said the remaining R35.9m of the R55m budget would be used for “smart agricultural technology to mitigate the effect of drought” in all drought-stricken districts of the region.
“The R35.95m is for the Land Care Programme Grant to provide support to all districts with training and development capacity on smart agriculture techniques and technologies to mitigate the effect of drought,” he added.
To help deal with other natural disasters, Mabuyane also announced that the department of human settlements would receive R32.5m to build permanent units for households that were affected by disasters in the King Sabata Dalindyebo local municipality.
The Eastern Cape was struck by a natural disaster last month when wild fires ravaged the Tsitsikamma area.
Mabuyane commended legislature speaker Noxolo Kiviet for her efforts as a citizen to help out those who were affected by the fire.
“I want to applaud the honourable speaker for playing the commendable role she played in leading efforts to bring under control the fire that ravaged the communities in Tsitsikamma recently,” said Mabuyane during his address.
The R35.95m is for the Land Care Programme Grant Oscar Mabuyane
Eastern Cape Province’s MEC for Finance