Ligthning robs Makoro small stock farmer
Koketso Kgoboge | Monday November 10, 2014 17:11
According to the victim, Ookeditse Onamile, 68, the incident took place at around 1700 hours on Monday. He further said that there was a total of 24 goats in the kraal when the incident took place.
When narrating the sad story to the Monitor team, Onamile revealed that he had seen a devastating damage losing a herd of 19 goats out of the above said 24. He said that only 5 goats survived the thunder storm.
“It was around 1700 hours when a windy storm washed away my 19 goats. Before the rainfall started, I went and herded my goats to the kraal and went back to the house. The lightning flash struck even in the house where I was sitting with my wife and my last born daughter.”
“The rainfall lasted for about 30minutes and after it stopped, I went back to the kraal so as to close the goats in. Only to find out that a disheartening incident took place when the lightning flashed. 19 of my goats were lying dead in the kraal. So out of my 24 goats, only five survived (1 goat and 4 goat kids),” explained Onamile.
Onamile who is currently unemployed told this publication that he had struggled to buy and raise his goats which he now regarded as his only source of income. He said that he fully relied on the goats to fend his family.
“This incident brought sorrow to my life because I fully relied on them to fend my family. I have young children who still go to school hence needs my support. Even though I am not working I am still the breadwinner of the family, so these goats helped me survive my children,” said Onamile pointing at the remaining ashes of his burnt goats.
Onamile further noted that he relied on his goats even for ploughing, saying it is not all the farmers who benefit from the government’s free ploughing initiative. He said that if it was not by the thunder, he could sell some of his goats so that he could make money to pay tractor operators.
Therefore, Onamile said that he didn’t see his family ploughing this year because of the sadness that befell his family.
Though the small stock farmer decried the sorrow that befell his goats, he consoled himself that he was not the only farmer who was negatively affected by this year’s rains. He told the Monitor team that another farmer still at Makoro lands lost 5 of his goats.
Efforts to reach such farmer hit a snag as she was said to have gone out of home when the Monitor team arrived at her place. Meanwhile, no damages had been done to the homes of the victims by the storm.
Onamile had since burnt the dead goats in the kraal without reporting them to the relevant people as he said he was not aware of the natural disaster relief officers.
In the mean time, efforts to reach the district commissioner to establish how people who had been affected by natural disasters are helped, were also unsuccessful as she was said to be too busy with meetings, she was too busy even to answer our calls.