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Nxangisa tells OFM News that the fires raged from in and around Koffiefontein, Petrusburg and Edenburg, moving to Botshabelo and Thaba 'Nchu. “We have not at the moment assessed the extent of the damage, the team is going to be doing that. We were only told that there’s one family that has lost everything, even their house and their belongings,” says Nxangisa. He furthermore says that they have been informed about the estimated 70 cattle and an estimated 200 sheep that have died due to the ravaging veldfires.

Nxangisa says that both departments will continuously deal with the results of the veldfires. He says that it’s time to develop concrete plans as the reoccurrence of these fires doesn’t serve any good and that when they reoccur the government can implement their contingency plans as swiftly and safely as possible.

“We are working very hard with the Department of Cooperative Governance because they are the ones that are responsible for disaster management. So that we can have a plan that is not dangerous to our people and to our farmers because a loss to a farmer is a loss to all of us in terms of food security, in terms of business, in terms of everything so their loss is our loss. That is why we as government will sit down, once we get the report from the disaster team and we will write a report to the executive council,” informs Bulwane.

Bulwane asserts that “if a disaster has to be declared to help those farmers, let it be so that we are looking at the well-being of our farming community”

Bulwane says that the disaster management team will do investigations in connection with the damage caused and the affected areas followed by informing national departments about the damage. He says that this unwelcome situation has become a national concern.

They ended off by visiting one of the largely affected farmers so as to assess the extent of damage done.

OFM News/Lee Simmons