DROUGHT KILLS FOUR COWS IN 20 MINUTES
LOBAMBA – Nkwene Member of Parliament (MP) Sikhumbuzo Dlamini told Parliament that the drought is so severe that he witnessed four cows dying within 20 minutes last week.
Dlamini was at Sikhuphe in the Lubombo region on a visit, where his attention was drawn to a herd of cattle that was looking for water at an earth dam but there was no water as it had dried up due to the scorching sun. “I observed for a while and realised that chances of these cows in surviving for any longer were very slim. They were hungry and thirsty. While I was in the area, four cows died right before my eyes and within 20 minutes. The situation is very bad in the lowveld,” said Dlamini in Parliament yesterday.
The Nkwene MP had moved a motion on Standing Order 58 in which he expressed some serious concern about the dozens of cattle dying due to drought, and also wanted to know what the intervention of Minister of Agriculture Moses Vilakati at this juncture would be. The backdrop of his motion was an article published in this newspaper about dozens of cattle that had since died at Lubhuku area in the Lubombo region.
He put it to the minister that on June 22 he told Parliament that around 200 000 cows would die due to the dry spell. The minister promised that there would be strategy in place to counteract the situation. Dlamini, however, revealed to the House of Assembly that communities, particularly farmers, were complaining that the minister talked a lot on radio and Parliament about this but there was no action.
“They said the minister talked about distribution of water tankers and cattle feed (bales) in communities that were most affected. Nothing has happened so far, hence the complaints. I am asking the minister that from today he must make means to prevent more deaths,” said the legislator.
He said the least he could do was to take the remaining cattle to the nearest farms where there was grass. Many of these farms are owned by government. Lugongolweni MP Joseph Souza submitted that government should send trucks full of bales to the hard hit areas without further ado. MP Njabulo Mabuza also urged the minister to let cows graze in nearby farms. He said it was terrible that farmers were now forced to sell their cows from as little as E450 when they spent more looking after them. Ngwempisi MP Veli Shongwe told Parliament that even though his constituency was known to have lots of grazing areas, it was unfortunate that wildfires destroyed them. He further said to his recollection, the minister did urge people to sell their cows while there was still time.
Comments (4 posted):