Agri SA made the request during a press conference at its head office in Pretoria on 1 June.
Speaking at the conference, Omri Van Zyl, Agri SA executive director, said the organisation became suspicious when President Jacob Zuma announced that R2,5 billion would be allocated to drought relief efforts, in his State of the Nation Address earlier this year.
According to Agri SA, reports from the departments of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (DAFF), Rural Development and Land Reform and Water and Sanitation (DRDLR) did not match Zuma’s claim.
After Agri SA had assessed the available government data on drought fund expenditure, it found that of the R212 million allocated to DAFF relief efforts, only R146 million had been spent.
The DRDLR had underspent its R463 million allocation by about R145 million.
According to Steve Galane, director of communication services at DAFF, government had established an inter-ministerial committee led by the departments of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs to investigate the alleged irregularities.
The report, focusing on DAFF’s underspending, would be made available to the public soon, Galane said.
With regard to relief effort administration and procurement processes, Boeta du Toit, general manager of AgriNorthWest, said there was no proper registry system through which to apply for drought relief.
He said that through the organisation’s interventions, 21 000 applications had been reduced to 16 800, after it was found that numerous claims had been duplicated.
Du Toit also said that registered service providers were inflating feed prices by up to 40% of market value, further hampering drought relief efforts.
