The Democratic Alliance calls for urgent joint intervention by all relevant departments after it was revealed today that 12 people have died in veld fires in the province. Rural communities need to be trained and enabled to act when such disasters occur. Lives have been lost unnecessarily.
The fires have been raging in the Eastern part of the province where little or no infrastructure exists to deal with such disasters.
The DA urges the MEC for Safety and Liaison, Ghishma Barry, to work with the other relevant departments, such as Health and Local Government, to set up and train community task teams to implement preventative measures, for instance firebreaks.
The backlogs in infrastructure in the Eastern section of the province are immense, and it is time that the ruling party addresses this issue. In addition, the ongoing drought has forced communities to seek relief from the government. There is no doubt that these veld fires will leave many more communities destitute, desperate and in need of government help.
The Democratic Alliance would like to express its condolences with the families who have lost loved ones in this tragedy.
For further information, please contact Pine Pienaar, MPL on 082 446 1888
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