Economic Opportunities
- Whether he and his Department have assistance plans for the agricultural section in the Province to deal with the impending drought with regard to (a) financial support, (b) water and (c) fodder for animals; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
- whether he and his Department have plans in place to assist the broader agricultural sector in order to minimise job losses that could plague the Western Cape as a direct result of drought; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
- whether he and his Department have plans in place to assist emerging farmers as they do not have sufficiently strong balance sheets to absorb losses; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Funding relief for national disasters sits with the National Government and is released to provincial governments after the declaration of a disaster.
The Western Cape Government is closely monitoring the impact of unusual seasonal weather in some regions.
We are having discussions with Department of Local Government and Provincial Disaster Management. We will be routinely assessing the situation over the next few weeks.
Dam levels are down compared to last year. This has consequences for certain regions.
The Karoo is very dry and the West Coast is also impacted by lower rainfall.
There is, however, still a chance of rain, which could change the situation.
As the Western Cape Government does not have contingency funding for disaster relief, a request for funding must be submitted to the National Treasury via the National Disaster Management Centre.
This request for a disaster declaration must first be supported by the Provincial Cabinet. At this stage, such a submission has not been presented to the Provincial Cabinet.
According to legislation, farmers cannot be compensated for loss of income due to a national disaster. Assistance can be used to assist with damaged infrastructure.
The National Department of Labour may be approached to assist with providing financial assistance to farmers to retain their farm workers employed.
In certain instances the department could support farmers by facilitating talks with commercial banks/Land Bank on rescheduling payments of current production.
