The fires that wreaked havoc in the Free State on Monday and Tuesday 13 July 2021, could have been managed better if the ANC government had put the safety of the people first.
Fires spread from, among other places, Petrusburg and Koffiefontein in the Letsemeng Local Municipality to other parts of the province. It is the direct result of the Municipality’s lack of fire-fighting equipment.
The FF Plus has been pointing out the serious dangers of the lack of fire-fighting resources to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) for months now.
The Municipality has only one fire engine at its disposal. It became evident from conversations with the authorities while the fires raged that fire-fighting personnel were also not ready to put out fires.
And once again, farmers and residents were left to fend for themselves in fighting the flames.
The FF Plus was continually engaging with the Mayor of Letsemeng, Abram Lebaka, and the MEC for COGTA, Thembeni Nxangisa. It is clear that the ANC is only interested in doing crisis management – but it cannot even do that successfully.
The Department has since deployed teams to the fire-stricken areas. It is, however, too little too late. Various farmers’ pasture has been destroyed and numerous animals burnt to death.
The FF Plus plans to ask in the Free State Legislature which municipalities in the Free State do not comply with the relevant disaster management legislation and what will be done to ensure that Free State municipalities’ residents are protected against fires.
In the upcoming local government elections, voters must stand up and stand with the FF Plus to ensure that municipalities are cleansed of the incompetent and unwilling officials who have allowed such critical infrastructure to collapse on their watch and who are, thus, jeopardising the country’s future.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Armand Cloete on FF Plus
