This is according to DA leader, Mmusi Maimane,who visited Kimberley on Wednesday as part of efforts by the party to gainfirst-hand insight into the effects of the drought - and to formulate a wayforward. This comes after the relentless drought has plagued the rural economyof the Northern Cape for the last five years, and thousands of jobs and the sustainabilityof the agricultural sector are under serious threat. Maimane told OFM Newsthere is rampant unemployment while the ANC provincial government is failing toengage local communities, especially farmers, to deal with the crisis. He saidthe effects of the drought have worsened and are spiraling out of control -with a provincial disaster fast becoming a reality.

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The Zondo Commission into State Capture has heard that government's controversial Estina Dairy Project at Vrede in the Free State should be shut down, with beneficiaries of the project saying nothing of substance is coming out of the project. The commission heard this week that at least R136 million was paid by the Free State government to Estina - a Gupta-linked company - after cancellation of the contract between the two parties. Estina was contracted by the Free State agricultural department to run the project aimed to benefit small-scale local farmers. The project has since been taken over by the Free State Development Cooperation. A farmer and one of the beneficiaries of the project, Ephraim Dhlamini, testified before the commission - through the use of a translator - that here is no point in the project continuing. Dhlamini says it is clear that the project was used for the benefit of thieves.

OFM News/Christal-Lize Muller, Vernon Baumann