Small scale farmers hit hardest by floods

| Thursday January 27, 2011 00:00

 

'Some are unable to continue repaying loans to the banks such as the Land Bank and other financial institutions that support farmers,' chairman of the portfolio committee on agriculture, forestry and fisheries, Salamuddi Abram, said. In a statement issued following the committee's visit to the Northern Cape province on Sunday, Abram said overflow of the Orange River had caused more damage than the rain.

'The damage includes the erosion of vineyards and livestock leaving more than 24,000 farm workers of commercial and developing farmers without work as there is no production,' said Abram. The committee has asked the Northern Cape agriculture department to submit a report about the damage caused by floods, while the ministry of agriculture works on an assistance plan.

The ministry promised that the plan would be finalised before the end of this week. Northern Cape is one of the eight provinces covering 33 municipalities that were declared disaster areas by the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs on January 17. The other provinces are the Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West, Limpopo, Kwazulu-Natal, and the Eastern Cape.

Due to heavy rains, government was closely monitoring the rise in water levels in four of the country's largest dams. Five flood gates had been opened in the Vaal Dam, which was 99 percent full on Monday afternoon, spokeswoman Linda Page said in a statement.

This brought the outflow of the dam to 600 cubic metres a second, from the 400 cubic metres reported earlier on Monday. Bloemhof Dam was currently 96 percent full, with an outflow of 200 cubic metres per second. The outflow would be increased to 400 cubic metres by Monday afternoon and would rise to 1000 cubic metres by Tuesday morning. The Gariep Dam was 109 percent full with the outflow at 1200 cubic metres per second. 'At the Vanderkloof Dam, the capacity is currently at 110 percent, the inflow is 1400 cubic metres per second and the outflow is 1650 cubic metres per second,' said Page.

The department would increase the outflow of the dam to 1700 cubic metres per second. The predicted flow in the Lower Orange River was 3150 cubic metres per second. In the Free State three people drowned while crossing an overflowing bridge during the weekend. Police divers retrieved the body of one of the three men who were washed away while crossing the Kromellnboog river on horse cart. One of the men survived the incident, while police were still searching for the third man.

In a separate incident in the same area on Saturday, a 60-year-old woman drowned while crossing a bridge near the Itumeleng township on Saturday. Her body was later discovered in the valley where the water leads, Free State police spokeswoman Captain Thandi Mbabo said. Authorities warned the public not to cross rivers as the 'current is too heavy for them to handle especially if they cannot swim'.

Weather SA has issued a warning for more heavy rains in the province as well as in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West and Limpopo provinces. Cellphone network Vodacom has donated R500,000 towards flood victims throughout the country and invited its customers to contribute towards the cause.-(SAPA)