Hon Chairperson, I wish to give notice that at the next sitting of this Council I will move:
That the Council -
1) notes that the Free State has experienced huge losses due to veld fires over the past few weeks and, according to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, more than 236 000 hectares of grazing have been lost due to veld fires so far this year, of which 151 000 hectares have been in September alone;
2) further notes that livestock as well as houses and farming equipment have been lost due to the various fires in the province;
3) acknowledges that the agricultural sector cannot afford these losses during an economic recession; 4) recognises that the agricultural sector in the province shed 10 000 jobs last year, which has had a devastating impact on struggling municipalities as people moved to towns and cities in search of new livelihoods; and
(5) realises that the provincial government has no choice but to declare the worst hit areas in the province disaster areas and urges them to urgently assist the agricultural sector to enable them to survive until pastures have recovered and to maintain as many jobs as possible and to speed up the bureaucratic process to achieve this.