This comes after two-week long discussions of various items from the several departments which fall under the provincial government as they tabled their budgets for the 2019/20 financial year and requested the Public Accounts Committee, as well as others, to adopt these budgets and the projects thereof. The Estina Dairy Farm project has dominated news reports since 2013 as it is alleged that the provincial Agriculture department spent over R220 million on it, yet financial statements show that only R2 million can be accounted for. In this morning’s meeting, members from the said department will now provide feedback on some of the questions members of the legislature raised last week.

Last week, members of legislature’s Public Accounts Committee raised questions on how the department will now, going forward, be managed as MEC of the provincial Treasury department, Elsabe Rockman, announced last month that the project would now be taken over by the national Agriculture and Rural Development department. While this is the case, Rockman in her budget speech last month also indicated that the provincial department would have some involvement in the project.

It is expected that today’s report will provide answers on the kind of support which will be given to emerging farmers set to benefit from this project and other aspects related to the dairy farm project.

Committees that will meet over this report will be the Portfolio Committees on Economic Development as well as the Public Account and Finance committee.

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