In a statement, founder and chairperson Imitaz Sooliman says the organisation’s resources are being stretched as more desperate calls from municipalities and the farming community in the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and Free State continue to stream in.

Sooliman adds that the situation is becoming dire and is now a “national emergency”, requiring “rapid intervention”. 

Regarding the loss incurred by the farming community, he says there needs to be support given to farm workers who no longer have jobs, as well as for the farm owners, who are struggling to pay debt to financial institutions. 

“Gift of the Givers has intervened with R160 million of aid in drought relief thus far drilling 200 boreholes with a capacity of 50 million litres per day, has provided hundreds of tons of fodder, bottled water, relief aid to thousands of farm workers," he explains.

Most recently roughly 2 000 lesser flamingo chicks had to be rescued by several organisations and transported to various locations countrywide by local mining company Kimberley Epaka Mining JV after low water levels resulted in the chicks being abandoned by their parents in search of water. 

The low levels were due in part to extreme weather patterns and a lack of water as a result. 

Earlier this week it was reported that the adult lesser flamingos had made their way back to the Kamfers Dam, as dam levels began to rise and extreme hot conditions subsided.

This while Gift of the Givers supplied the Free State town of Hertzogville with bottled water in December 2018, after receiving calls from residents who indicated that they had been without a drop of water in the town for close to a week, amidst the Summer heatwave. It was reported that a faulty pipeline was at the heart of the situation in the town.

OFM News