This comes after the drought-stricken province was declared a drought disaster area. Spokesperson of the department, Sputnik Ratau, says the decision comes after discussions about the drought implications by water and sanitation minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, members of the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC), and administrators and officials from the provincial government on Friday. Ratau says Sisulu and the Premier of the Northern Cape, Zamani Saul, decided that the provincial government needs to unlock a process in the form of some possible assistance to the Northern Cape. He says the Director-General of the department will now look at ways to reprioritise available funding by the department to provide as drought relief.

Meanwhile, the South African Weather Service predicts little to no rain for the Northern Cape this week. A forecaster from the Bloemfontein Weather Office, Tonie Rossouw, says conditions are favourable for the development of runaway veld fires in the central interior of the province. Together with that heatwave conditions with sustained high temperatures are expected in the Namaqua Central interior for today. He says in North West partly cloudy conditions with a few afternoon showers, and thunderstorms are predicted in the southwest, with sunny and warm conditions in the Free State. A few scattered afternoon showers and thunderstorms can occur in the east of the province.

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The government will be delivering more than 60 tons of feed and lucerne to drought-stricken farmers in the Eastern Cape. Algoa FM's Shadley Nash reports the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform in the province will distribute the feed to farmers in the Amathole, Chris Hani and Sarah Baartman district municipalities. These are the worst affected areas in the province.




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