While wildfires have been blazing for over a week in large parts of the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District, uncontrollable blazes have also been reported in parts of the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality.Chairperson for the North West Umbrella Fire Protection Association, Eric Thabo Stoch, has appealed to authorities to declare a state of disaster in the affected areas.
Stoch says, “At the moment we have been requesting since last week Thursday to have the Provincial Disaster Management Centre to declare a state of disaster, so that we can assist our communities and members of tribal authorities in the area. We are now sitting with a situation here we have a lack of water and lack resources and the fires have been running out of control since last week and with very little assistance coming in from elsewhere.
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development says all hands are on deck to evaluate the extent of damage caused by the fires. MEC for the Department Desbo Mohono says, “Over 50 000 hectares of land have been burnt by fire. So as government already my HOD is looking at how best we can assist our farmers. You would remember in my Budget Speech I indicated that we want to have a fodder bank, the reason being is for government to declare disaster, it takes long sometimes so it’s better for us to have plan B to mitigate the situation. Without those farmers, there’s no food in the province.