Minister Mkhize Welcomes Funding Allocation to Address Drought and Water Scarcity
The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Dr Zweli Mkhize, in his capacity as Chairperson of the Inter-Ministerial Task Team on Drought and Water Scarcity, has welcomed the funding allocations to deal with the scourge of drought that has gripped and continues to wreak havoc in some parts of the country.
The funding relief has also been allocated to deal with the effects of storms which devastated parts of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) in October 2017 and the Western Cape (WC) in July 2017 as well as fires which left much of Knysna in July 2017 a wasteland.
A total of R3.2 billion has been allocated to deal with the effects of drought and water scarcity and R1.6 billion to deal with the effects of storms and fires. The funding will also strengthen mitigation measures in the face of the current weather outlook which points to the possible occurrence of an El Nino phenomenon during the 2018/19 summer season through to the winter rainfall season. These allocations are important as they will assist affected communities following the three provinces – KZN, WC and the Eastern Cape (for drought relief) – declaring provincial state of disaster and the fact that the damage caused exceeded their capacity to deal with damages using their own resources.
The Minister of Finance had indicated in the budget speech in February this year that he had set aside a provisional allocation of R6-billion in 2018/19 for several purposes, including drought relief and to augment public infrastructure investment. The disbursement of this allocation for drought will be led by the Inter-Ministerial Task Team on Drought and Water Scarcity and will be available from January 2019.
This Post-Disaster Recovery Funding has been allocated through the Medium Term Expenditure Framework i.e. 2018/19 which will be accessed within in-year and 2019/2020 and 2020/21 respectively.
a) The R1.62 billion will flow over the 2018 MTEF as follows:
- 2018/19: R638.6 million largely for municipal infrastructure, hospitals and schools in KZN and WC.
- 2019/20: R580.6 million largely for human settlements and schools in KZN and WC.
- 2020/21: R400 million solely for human settlements in KZN and the WC.
b) The R3.2-billion funding allocation made from the contingency reserve to deal with Drought and Water scarcity channeled through responsible department in the following breakdown:
a. Department of Cooperative Governance for water infrastructure in affected municipalities has been allocated R1,025-billion.
b. Department of Water and Sanitation have been granted R1.3-billion for water infrastructure to affected municipalities
c. Department of Environmental Affairs has been allocated R318-million to remove invasive species and water weeds; Wetland restoration and addressing post fire damages amongst others in the affected provinces and municipalities, and
d. Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has been allocated R566,5-million for soil and water care; provision of livestock feed and water infrastructure and removal of invasive species amongst others in the affected provinces and municipalities.
The flow of the funds will be made in terms of section 6(2)(b) of the 2018 Appropriation Act, enabling expenditure announced by the Minister of Finance in the Budget Speech to be allocated to sectors. All allocations approved through windows 1 and 2 are expected to flow in the month of October 2018 and this is subject to departments requesting for approval from the National Treasury to revise their drawings.
The funding allocation was guided by the evaluation criteria applied in line with the extent of the need and the desired impact. These are:
a)The abating extent and severity of the drought reflected before allowing the lapsing of the national declaration in June 2018 upon the lapsing of a national state of drought disaster;
b) The ability of the affected sectors to spend and account for their requested funds, the existing funding baselines in relevant sector programmes;
c) Prioritising projects that would be completed and deliver water in the short-term and projects that can be implemented in the time available to spend these funds;
d) The need to implement interim or stop-gap measures before sustainable solutions are implemented and the extent to which the applicants were affected by the drought;
e) The prioritisation of the projects that improve long-term drought resilience. For example, projects that could provide spare capacity to cater for future droughts but not necessarily for expected growth in water demand as this should be funded through normal budgets.
f) Project assessment in terms of cost for potential yield and the trade-off relationships between projects in similar catchments or drought stricken areas;
g) Municipalities with substantial own revenues are expected to co-fund some of their submitted schemes particularly drought alleviation targeted augmentation schemes, and;
h) Funding should be broadly proportional to the extent of the drought, after accounting for population differences.
The National Joint Drought Coordinating Committee (NJDCC) chaired by the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) will monitor implementation of these drought interventions and report to regularly to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Drought and Water Scarcity.
“The allocated funds will go a long way in alleviating the effects of the prevailing and future drought conditions and the negative impact of climate change and variability being experienced by our country”, said Minister Mkhize.
Notable also is that the funds will flow through the relevant sector grants to ensure that they are used for the intended purposes and therefore the Minister urges all relevant roIe-players to use the funds prudently guided by the approved plans and ensure that they are able to address the intended course, whilst leaving a lasting developmental impact./Ends
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