South Africa: Farmers seek to use disaster fund to fix flood walls

Farmers whose land was damaged by the floods in January and February this year call for their government to use the R131,862m disaster relief fund in order to repair the protection walls to prevent future floods, reports the Business Day. This fund is part of the 2011 flood assistance scheme.

"In the low-lying areas [such as] Eksteenskuil, some small farmers and subsistence farmers are not in a position to make any contribution due to the huge damage [to infrastructure]. Well-equipped and skilled contractors will have to be called in to do the repairs," said Agri SA’s Koos van Zyl.