Eastern Cape finally declared a drought disaster area

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Binary_Bark

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A signed notice declaring the Eastern Cape province a drought disaster area was published in the Government Gazette on Tuesday morning.

This came after months of political campaigns, angry words and delays which have so far prevented the drought-stricken province from accessing national disaster funding. The Northern Cape has received R50-million and the Western Cape has recently accessed close to R150-million, with R50-million being made available immediately.

The notice was published in an extraordinary issue of the Government Gazette and signed by Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane.

The declaration follows a meeting between AgriEC and the premier in Queenstown last week.

MC-DroughtDeclaration-Estelle-inset-2-360x480.jpg
Gallery

Rivers and streams in the Butterworth district have also run dry. (Picture: supplied)

AgriEC spokesman Doug Stern said the meeting had been a great success — the premier undertook to have the province declared a disaster area as soon as possible.

The Democratic Alliance’s Retief Odendaal, who has been campaigning for a disaster declaration for months, said this would allow the national government to make much-needed drought relief funding available to the province. He said by cutting out non-core expenses the government should be able to free up R50-million in funding that could be made available immediately. So far only R3-million has been made available in the provincial mid-term budget.
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More At: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/art...ape-finally-declared-a-drought-disaster-area/
 
At least we know that the allocated monies will be used wisely and that no individuals would unduly benefit from this financially.

Please don't ask me to cite a news source as I was being sarcastic.
 
Pie in the sky. People who need the money for drought relief efforts will never see it.
 
RonSwanson said:
Finally.
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PE has been (and is currently being) water-restricted regularly since forever, yet hundreds of new developments (including townhouses, flats and shopping malls) are springing up everywhere without a single thought regarding their water consumption or any requirements to alleviate their impact on existing resources. Fortunately for me, I am completely self-sufficient in this regard.
 
More towns running out of drinking water
On Saturday a strict warning was sent to residents in eight towns in the Eastern Cape – Aliwal North, Mount Fletcher, Lady Grey, Ugie, Barkley East, Burgersdorp and Maclear – not to drink the water supplied by the municipality without boiling it first.

In an official notice, the municipal manager for the Joe Gqabi Municipality, Zolile Williams, added that residents must add a teaspoon of bleach to every 25 litres of drinking water to make it safe.
“We can no longer guarantee the quality of the drinking water supplied by the municipality,” the notice reads.
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The Eastern Cape Treasury has allocated R120-million in drought relief to the province after the publication of a notice to declare a drought disaster. An increasing number of towns are running out of drinking water.

Ten out of 13 towns in the Joe Gqabi District municipality now have level three water restrictions, meaning water is only available for a few hours every day or every second day.

The Eastern Cape Treasury late last week allocated R120-million in drought relief to the province following the publication of a notice to declare a drought disaster – as an increasing number of towns are running out of drinking water.

A spokesperson for the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Mamnkeli Ngam said they were awaiting applications for drought relief.

“We have received business plans for funding to mitigate against drought from the province’s two metros,” Ngam said.

He said the money was also intended for municipalities in crisis where communities have no more drinking water. “Even my own village has not had water for a while,” Ngam said.
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'Way beyond the urgency and emergency phase', Gift of the Givers 'battle' with worsening Eastern Cape drought

Humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers says it is struggling to keep up with the impact of the drought in the Eastern Cape.

In a statement on Sunday, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, the organisation's founder, said residents were suffering as a result.

"Cries of desperation, long early morning queues, frantic calls and persistent knocking on doors of Gift of the Givers team members; communities are at a loss what to do as dam after dam, river after river and borehole after borehole shuts down, add to that load shedding.

"Small town economies dependent on festive season tourists are at their wits' end as water is simply not available to service paying guests," Sooliman said.


He added businesses, especially, have been affected, saying the situation could worsen over the festive season.

"This challenging scenario is about to become a nightmare as thousands of economically active citizens return home to the Eastern Cape in the coming days. Water demands are going to increase exponentially, amplifying the expanding crisis."

Despite drilling boreholes and installing water tanks, the organisation said it was battling.
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More at:
www.news24.com

'Way beyond the urgency and emergency phase', Gift of the Givers 'battle' with worsening Eastern Cape drought

Humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers says it is struggling to keep up with the impact of the drought in the Eastern Cape.
www.news24.com www.news24.com
 
Port Alfred is now at day zero .. Local dam 6% full. Water is switched on and off according to demand/capacity as needed .. No schedules at all.
 
Was there no forward planning, dam maintenance or fallback desalination plants? These things can be forecast, planned for, estimated. I mean it's not like the eastern cape is landlocked...

And why don't the citizens do anything? Apathy? Ignorance?
 
John_Phoenix said:
Was there no forward planning, dam maintenance or fallback desalination plants? These things can be forecast, planned for, estimated. I mean it's not like the eastern cape is landlocked...

And why don't the citizens do anything? Apathy? Ignorance?
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There was 200 million wasted on a reverse osmosis plant that is sitting uncompleted collecting dust.
 
No end in sight for Eastern Cape drought

Residents of Butterworth in the Eastern Cape are desperately waiting for water that was released from the Wriggleswade Dam to provide them with some respite from a lengthy drought that is showing no signs of ending.

The water was released from the dam earlier this month and it was estimated that it would take about two weeks to reach Kei Bridge.

While the drought is affecting several areas in the province, Butterworth stands to benefit the most from the release of the water.

It will be treated and taken to communities by tanker, while the province waits for further assistance from the national government.
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More at: https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/no-end-in-sight-for-eastern-cape-drought-20200106
 
We've had some decent rains in Grahamstown the last few days. Hoping they will make a difference to the dam levels. We're on rotational water shedding (one full day a week with no water per area) and the water is off from 7pm to 7am ish every day.
 
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