Photo by: Duane Daws
With South Africa experiencing the worst drought conditions in some 20 years, and the North West, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the Free State provinces already declared drought disaster zones, renewed action plans have been enforced to assist these areas.
Civil rights movement AfriForum on Friday launched a campaign encouraging the public to contribute R10 through an SMS helpline (SMS your name to 38312) over the next few weeks.
The organisation would then double the contributions on a rand for rand basis.
At the end of the campaign, AfriForum, in cooperation with agricultural organisations such as TAU South Africa, would use the funds raised to assist farmers who experienced severe shortages of fodder, as well as towns that experienced water shortages, to help alleviate the suffering.
“Farmers suffer terribly and some towns currently have no drinking water. We can do nothing else but to roll up our sleeves and help,” said AfriForum spokesperson Henk Maree.
In earlier media reports, Grain South Africa noted that the country would need to import as much as five-million tonnes of maize this year, compounded by the fact that only 25% of the usual corn crops have been planted in the North West and 20% in the north western and central Free State.