Regular government interaction with communities is fulfilling the promise the [ruling party] has made in its election campaign, according to Limpopo Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (LDARD) MEC Nandi Ndalane.
Molemole Local Municipality and in particular
“Today is a highly significant day in the journey of our government to interact and talk to our people. During our election campaign, one of the key matters which we promised to do was to constantly engage our communities directly in their villages across the province.
“This is the promise we made and today we are delivering on that promise. We have come to the important realisation that constant engagement with our communities provides a platform for our people to talk to their government,” Ndalane indicated in her address during her outreach programme at Mokomene village Molemole Local Municipality in Capricorn District on 10 December 2019.
She said the day provided stakeholders, farmers particularly, time to talk to the Department about their challenges and suggestions on how the LDARD could improve their farming. The MEC advised the community to heed to LDARD officials’ advice to avoid costly results like Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in the area.
There were presentations about LDARD services, stock theft and FMD. Choosing the latter as it had unexpectedly occurred in that FMD free zone area, Department’s Veterinary Services Director, Dr Lucas presented on the economic damaging disease.
Mampane said cutting fences made livestock and other animals’ movement control difficult. Livestock could interact with buffaloes which are the carrier of FMD. In his view, perpetrators should be punished heavily. Some of the impact the disease had on the economy included the following:
It brought unnecessary costs in the form of roadblocks involving traffic officers, police officers, officials from both the LDRD and national Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and others. Furthermore, the meat industry was the hardest hit and could shed jobs.
During discussions, farmers applauded the Department’s officials for their assistance in the District. However, they said the LDARD Farmer Support Policy was tedious, thus disadvantaged farmers. They unanimously reiterated that monthly R8 000-R16 000 electricity bills from Eskom would killed their business.