The fleet, officially handed over on 11 June by North West Premier Lazarus Kagiso Mokgosi and MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development Madoda Sambatha at the department’s Agricentre offices in Mahikeng, will be allocated to frontline agricultural workers to improve access to farming communities, speed up response times, and strengthen disease surveillance, vaccination campaigns, movement control enforcement, and farmer support initiatives.
Sambatha acknowledged that the department continues to face shortages of both extension personnel and vehicles, adding that the new fleet is intended to address long-standing operational constraints that have limited service delivery in the field.
“The number of outreach officers we have is less than [we require], and the number of cars available was also less than the number we [should have had],” he said at the handover.
“These cars are meant as an intervention and a [boost to the department], because many officials have effectively turned themselves into administration staff instead of being out in the field where they are needed.”
MEC urges accountability
Sambatha also urged veterinary officials to ensure vaccination data is captured promptly on the national electronic system to accurately reflect progress in the province’s FMD vaccination campaign.
He said that while approximately 700 000 animals have been vaccinated so far in the province, only about 400 000 records appear on the national database because many field activities have not been electronically captured.
Sambatha added that the department will verify the vaccination records by engaging farmers whose animals are recorded in the system, as well as those whose vaccinations have not yet been captured electronically, owing to inconsistencies in reporting.
He noted that supervisors will also be held accountable for ensuring officials complete reporting requirements after field visits, particularly now that additional vehicles have been provided.
Vehicles must improve services
Also addressing officials at the handover, Mokgosi said the vehicles must be used to improve service delivery and strengthen the department’s extension services across the province.
“At the centre of our work are our extension services. We need a deliberate plan to capacitate them. If we don’t do that, we will become irrelevant,” he said.
Mokgosi added that government cannot expect officials to deliver effective support without the necessary resources.
“We can’t expect extension services to be efficient and effective in isolation. There must be a deliberate plan so that in the next three, four, or five years, we are operating optimally,” he said, adding that agriculture must be properly supported so that it can help grow the provincial economy.
