Introduction
South Africa is on the verge of a humanitarian crisis. Compared to previous years,
farmers have not been able to either grow sufficient crops or produce sufficient red meat
as a result of the ongoing drought. It also seems as if South Africa’s government lacks
the will and competency to declare the drought a national crisis situation. Moreover,
Government has provided little to no help to South African farmers – black and white.
AfriForum
AfriForum is a civil rights organisation that focuses on minority rights in South Africa,
mainly those of Afrikaners, who comprise approximately 9% of the total South African
population. The organisation believes in mutual respect and recognition between all racial
groups in South Africa. It has a membership base of more than 180 000 country-wide
members. Many of these are commercial farmers, who contribute to the national economy
and provide food security for South Africa and work to thousands of South Africans.
United Nations
A report by the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) 1, the traditional rainy season (October 2015 to March 2016) was devastated
by an El Niño-induced drought that crippled agricultural production that depends solely
on rain. Moreover, the subsequent April 2016 harvest proved insufficient, with a
regional maize production shortfall of 9,3 million tonnes. This was the region’s second
consecutive poor rainfall season – exacerbating a vulnerable situation already
worsened by major economic decline. Moreover, the International Monetary Fund
recently downgraded its 2016 growth forecast for South Africa, the region’s economic
ballast, to just 0,1 %2. As a result, the governments of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi,
Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe have declared national emergencies, as have
most provinces in South Africa.
1
OCHA( 2016). El Niño in Southern Africa. Available from http://www.unocha.org/el-nino-southernafrica. (Attached as Annexure A.)
2 Ibid.