Please find attached soundbite in Afrikaans and English from Annete Steyn MP, DA Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) will write to the chairperson of portfolio committee on agriculture, land reform and rural development, Zwelivelile “Mandla” Mandela, to request a meeting with Minister Thoko Didiza and her Department to seek transparency on the lack of feedback on when the list of beneficiaries of the R1.3 billion Covid-19 Agricultural Disaster Fund will be made available.
The Minister announced on 17 May that her Department has processed the applications and that it was ready to make payments to beneficiaries. At the committee meeting on 19 May, the Minster promised that the list of Fund beneficiaries would be released. More than two weeks later, and the Minister is deafening in her silence.
The DA has received complaints from several applicants who initially qualified for relief aid from the Fund but has yet to receive a cent.
Since 28% of applicants met the criteria to qualify for the funding, it is a mystery why many have not received any support.
When will the Minister release the promised information? Or is she trying to hide something?
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has done a terrible of job of supporting the Agricultural sector in the best of times, and has once again shown that it seems to have little interest in truly supporting desperate farmers.
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