Overview
- MEC Anton Bredell will ask the provincial cabinet to support a request for a provincial disaster classification covering the Southern Cape drought and recent wildfires.
- Knysna’s Akkerkloof Dam sits at 15% with a 10‑day water buffer as consumption reaches 12 megalitres per day, prompting a call to cut use to 50 litres per person.
- The Knysna Joint Operations Committee is adding short‑term supply through spring development, refurbishing seven boreholes, securing 10 private boreholes, and using a mosque borehole.
- More than 100,000 hectares have burned this season, with over 500 firefighters engaged in the Overstrand and Cape Winelands and readiness planned through April and May.
- The province’s R17 million aerial firefighting budget is depleted, and internal reallocations will keep 21 aircraft flying pending final cost reconciliation in the adjustment budget.