Agriculture MEC, Vusi Shongwe, donates PPE to the province’s agricultural sector
The primary aim of the donation was to ensure that farmers in the province comply with the safety requirements outlined by government.
MBOMBELA – The Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs MEC, Vusi Shongwe, extended a helping hand to Mpumalanga farmers and other stakeholders with the donation of masks, hand sanitisers, soap and gloves.
The symbolic handover was conducted at the Samora Machel Building in the Riverside Boulevard Government Complex yesterday.
Farmers, farm workers and farm dwellers are recognised as providing an essential service during the Covid-19 lockdown and the MEC said that the donation was to make sure that, as the government of the province, farmers are assisted to practice a safe working environment and safe production.
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“The farm unions and farm leaders that are here know exactly what is expected of them in terms of this pandemic and Covid-19.
“They are expected to produce and at the same time, make sure that their workers are safe, that the farmers themselves are safe and the goods they produce is safe,” Shongwe said.
According to the MEC, the primary aim of the donation was to ensure that farmers in the province comply with the safety requirements outlined by government.
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He continued, “No one was expecting the extent the effect Covid-19 would have on the world, South Africa and Mpumalanga in particular.
“Farm owners, farm dwellers and everyone else, they do have requirements and challenges. Remember that they were not using masks in the past and immediately after the arrival of this pandemic, they are expected to have masks, sanitisers, soap and all the requirements, which needs money. That is the reason government has come to the party to lend a helping hand.”
The MEC went on to explain that no farmer would be excluded from the donation and expressed his contentment with the way in which the department has been working with the farming sector.
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“I can’t say that I am 100 per cent satisfied, but the majority of our farm owners and farm dwellers are complying with the necessary requirements,” he added.
He was unable to provide information on the infection rates in the sector.
“I can’t provide any information on anyone infected in the sector because the Department of Health, in particular the command council, is dealing with those statistics,” he concluded.
