Farmers are not the scapegoats, Minister Majodina

“It is unfortunate that there are misconceptions that farmers are depriving communities of an adequate water supply.”

This is the opinion of Kempen Nel, chairman of Free State Agriculture (FSA)’s Natural Resources Committee, in response to Me Pemmy Majodina, Minister of Water and Sanitation,’s recent speech on dam safety to MPs in the National Assembly. Nel says in response that the agricultural sector, especially irrigated farmers, must comply with strict regulations and legislation and “if there are shortcomings it should be addressed by the department of water and sanitation.”

“Farmers use raw water for irrigation and not purified water intended for human consumption.”

Free State Agriculture welcomes action against the responsible institution that caused the Jagersfontein sludge dam disaster, as many farmers feel it in their own pockets due to large areas of high potential agricultural land that are now unusable due to the mine sludge containing dangerous elements. FSA makes a serious appeal to the department to speed up the matter. Although there have been many requests from organized agriculture to compensate the farmers, nothing significant has yet come of the requests, while residents of the town have already received help.

“Free State Agriculture is happy to cooperate with the Department, but care must be taken against generalizations that create the wrong impression about agriculture.”