Petition to declare the devastating Northern Cape drought a provincial disaster
Worst case scenario 62 000 jobs are at risk if Northern Cape farmers don’t get additional, sustainable help urgently.
Farmers are so indebted that they cannot secure loans to buy feed to keep their animals alive. More and more farm workers are at risk of losing their jobs. Businesses, like abattoirs, are battling to keep their doors open and are downscaling working days from five-day weeks to four-day weeks … children are being taken out of school because their parents cannot afford transport costs, while the sick are foregoing healthcare because they cannot afford to get to the nearest clinic.
This is the reality of the prolonged drought conditions that have prevailed across the greater part of the Northern Cape for the last five years, as per a report by the Northern Cape Department of Agriculture.
Sign this petition to demand that the premier urgently:
- Declare the drought in the Northern Cape a provincial disaster in order to free up drought-relief funding; and also
- make sure that the ineffective disaster management system is reviewed to ensure that drought relief is effected more speedily and is more sustainable (funding typically helps farmers for about three months only).
The Premier of the Northern Cape urgently needs to take action before it’s too late for the province’s agricultural and rural economy, and the social welfare of residents of drought-embattled areas.
15888 needed to reach 20000
Farmers are so indebted that they cannot secure loans to buy feed to keep their animals alive. More and more farm workers are at risk of losing their jobs. Businesses, like abattoirs, are battling to keep their doors open and are downscaling working days from five-day weeks to four-day weeks … children are being taken out of school because their parents cannot afford transport costs, while the sick are foregoing healthcare because they cannot afford to get to the nearest clinic.
This is the reality of the prolonged drought conditions that have prevailed across the greater part of the Northern Cape for the last five years, as per a report by the Northern Cape Department of Agriculture.
Sign this petition to demand that the premier urgently:
- Declare the drought in the Northern Cape a provincial disaster in order to free up drought-relief funding; and also
- make sure that the ineffective disaster management system is reviewed to ensure that drought relief is effected more speedily and is more sustainable (funding typically helps farmers for about three months only).
The Premier of the Northern Cape urgently needs to take action before it’s too late for the province’s agricultural and rural economy, and the social welfare of residents of drought-embattled areas.