MBOMBELA – Winter is approaching and experts are predicting a high-risk fire season. However, local municipalities in Ehlanzeni are not paying their membership fees at the Lowveld & Escarpment Fire Protection Association (Lefpa).
According to Lefpa manager, Mr André Scheepers, he has received no payment from any of the five local municipalities for the financial year which ends in March.
According to the National Veld and Forest Fire Act of 1998, a state landowner “must join any fire-protection association registered in the area in which the land lies”.
Scheepers is expecting a very bad fire season this year. “The trend is to have a bad season every five to seven years.
“We last had bad fires in 2008. What happens in Australia is also typically an indication of what we can expect. A build-up of drought and hot dry winds seem to be in the offing.”
The fire-protection associations (of which there are 14 in Mpumalanga) are funded solely by members. Scheepers use Working on Fire crews, but has to provide the hardware, such as vehicles.
He however notes that the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency as well as Eskom and Transnet have paid to date. “I am also lucky to have large private companies in my area who pay their subs. But associations in smaller places rely almost entirely on the municipalities as members.”
He says a local municipality can be held liable for any damage caused by bush fires which start on its property and spread to those of private owners while it is not a member of the association.
He says he is also not legally compelled to assist in cases of fires where members have not paid, but he does – at his own cost. “If I don’t help, people die. And if you lose timber you lose jobs and livelihoods.”
Lefpa also trains emerging farmers and helps small private farms burn firebreaks and cut grass to minimise the risk. Less money, however, limits their outreach, increasing the risk.
The subs are calculated per hectare of veld in a municipality. Scheepers provided a document according to which Buskbuckridge had been failing to pay its membership since 2007. For just the past five years alone, this amounts to R450 000.
Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM) has failed to pay its membership for the past three years. This amounts to R55 120 for 2012, R48 210 for 2013 and R48 210 in 2014.
Nkomazi has also failed to pay its membership for two years. This amounts to R48 210 for 2013 and R48 210 for 2014. Umjindi and Thaba Chweu Municipality (TCM) too has not paid their membership for this year.
Mr Cyril Chuene, EFF provincial executive member says municipalities must budget for their membership. “They have fire budgets, so where is that money going?”
Neither Buskbuckridge, MLM, Nkomazi, TCM or Umjindi responded to the newspaper’s queries.
