South Africa to boost funding for drought relief, Ramaphosa says

South African disaster-management authorities are working with local governments to find more money to help farmers affected by drought, President Cyril Ramaphosa said.

This year the state provided R260 million to help offset the effects of the dry spell, Ramaphosa said in his weekly statement. South Africa is in the midst of a decade-long drought that has left average dam levels at about 58% of capacity, he said.

Read: SA unveils R900bn plan to tackle water shortages

“Given the severity of the crisis, this amount is woefully inadequate,” Ramaphosa said. “Disaster Management is working with provinces and municipalities to see how they can reprioritise their budgets for relief and recovery.”

During my visit to the Waterberg last week to launch the District Development Model, I spent time talking to people in the villages around Lephalale, at the Medupi power station and to business people in the town.

© 2019 Bloomberg L.P.