The Ugu Municipality on the Kwazulu-Natal South Coast should be declared a disaster area due to the magnitude of damage caused by flooding on 17 and 18 June, the Sezela Cane Growers Association (SCGA) said.
The flood is one of the worst the region has seen – 36 hours of intense rainfall resulted in 690mm in Sezela, 615mm in Esperanza, 535mm in Ifafa, 610mm in Illovo, 250mm in Dumisa, 440mm in Hibberdene and 610mm in Umzinto. O f the 41 000ha of cane grown in the Sezela Mill area, 35 700ha were affected by the flooding. The total area of this land farmed by black growers amounts to 30,6% or 13 130ha.
In a report sent to the KZN agriculture and environmental affairs MEC Mtholephi Mthimkhulu on 20 June, SCGA general manager William Gillham said flooding had caused severe destruction of the infrastructure and major financial losses for cane farmers in the area. At one stage about 20 000t of cane harvested prior to the floods was cut off from the mill.
“It would never have reached the mill for crushing if not for the quick response of commercial farmers and Illovo Sugar Ltd in implementing major civil repairs to their own roads and district roads at their own expense,” said Gilham. “This enabled cane deliveries to continue and the cane now cut off from the mill has been reduced to about 5 000t, which is still a potential loss of gross income amounting to around R1,2 million.” Loss of cane fields due to land slides and erosion is estimated at 50ha to 100ha. “It will cost R1,5 million to replant these fields, while the civil repair work required to rectify damage to farms will cost millions of rands,” Gilham said.
Damage to infrastructure is also severe. All district roads are damaged and in many instances inaccessible. Roads covering an estimated distance of 102km have been washed away. Some 66 bridges, 238 low-level bridges, 1 242 calverts, five buildings and 16 dams have been damaged or washed away. Gillham was hopeful the severity of the damage would unlock government funding and resources to repair the infrastructure and compensate farmers so farms could continue operating as productive businesses.
“The small-scale growers suffer more in these difficult circumstances, as they don’t have the volumes to achieve economies of scale,” he explained. “Our members can’t remain viable if no assistance is received from government to repair the lost infrastructure and to cover financial losses. The early release of funds to begin repairs is essential.” – Robyn Joubert
