'Hogwash' drought relief aid

BAB FROM //KHARAS WRITES:

Allow me a space in your newspaper to comment on the hogwash drought relief aid program of the Government, which only assist a few.

There are certain things for which we have hated the South African Apartheid Regime, but there are equally sufficient good things for which we need to take off our hats to them, especially when it comes to provision of amenities, viz. ­building of brick houses, maintenance of road infrastructure, provision of clean water, building of schools and erection of recreation facilities for the youth etc. Just look at the

NaTis fee structure today, what is it for?

We did not enjoy fundamental basic human rights, we had no freedom of speech, no freedom of movement and did not enjoy equality. But nowadays we have all these things without the good ones that I have just cited above.

Our Government is commercializing basic services to create jobs for the elite comrades and by so doing they are making services very expensive for the ordinary person on the street.

During the colonial divide-and-rule regime racial discriminatory practices were the worst.

Corruption was also there, but it was done in such a professional way that no one could have easily detected it, since they were very excellent administrators with their paper work. Don't misconstrue me, I am not saying that the Apartheid Government was necessarily better in all aspects.

Although I was not farming at that time I can't stop praising them for their attractive and lucrative ­drought fodder relief schemes, as they were farmers par excellence, who had farming at their hearts. In that scheme of the "Boers" all farmers were benefiting, the only difference was in the number of livestock that one owned and the quantity of fodder you were going to receive.

The current selection criteria is annoying and give you hypertension. To me drought relief should be about preventing the dying of animals as a principle factor, due to the severe drought situation, regardless of the number of livestock you may have and your economic status.

The Government must rather work out a different scheme for the well-off farmers.

We are praising the agriculture sector for being the 3rd or 4th biggest employer and contributor to the GDP, whilst allowing livestock to die. What does the Government think about the meat exports to the EU markets and the revenue being generated from that?

If you can only assist a handful of farmers then you rather withdraw that assistance and spend the money more useful on something better. What is going to happen to the poor subsistence farmers in the rural constituencies?

I am reliably informed that crop farmers are being looked after better than livestock farmers in terms of drought relief. One can't be fooled around with like that in a year of elections. No one can garner votes in such a vexatious and "devil-may-care" manner as a political campaign tool.

If you have to help someone in such a hogwash way then rather leave it. Thus, we appeal to the Government to review the selection criteria with immediate effect in order to pull crippled farmers out of the quagmire of poverty.

I think the Government has no plans in place to assist the communal farmers who have lost livestock after the drought. I am sure only a few communal farmers will qualify for fodder aid in the traditional communal areas of Berseba, Blouwes, Bethanie, Vaalgras, Bondelswarts etc.

The income barrier of veteran's pay, old age pension, GIPF pay and current salaries/allowances are disqualifying the farmers.

I was shocked to hear some traditional authorities are coming up with their own additional conditions regarding outstanding grazing fee debts, besides the already stiff Government selection criteria. The Government must intervene immediately to stop this.

In the above mentioned traditional communal areas barely 20 small farmers will qualify for aid due to the economically discriminatory selection criteria.

These farmers stand a 100% chance to loose their livestock. Therefore, I personally view the scheme in it current form as a total mess and a failure even before it has started.