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The Democratic Alliance is horrified at the catastrophic state of fire and emergency services in the Free State.

In a reply to a DA question in the Free State Legislature, MEC Dukwana said that both Lejweleputswa and Xhariep District Municipalities have no fire services, while nine local municipalities have no fire service.

In terms of the Disaster Management Act, the province must have a Provincial Disaster Management Centre, but this centre in the Free State was evicted from its premises by the Department of Labour for its failure to comply with health and safety regulations. According to our information, very little research of potential disasters, planning for likely disasters, co-ordination of disaster response, or co-ordination of rescue and clean-up operations takes place at the now disbanded centre.

In all its 23 municipalities, the Free State require a minimum of 32 major fire pumpers, but only 16 are available. 12 Incident Command Units are required but only 3 are available. Most concerning is that 12 Hazmat units are required in the province, but only two are stationed in Mangaung. This means that almost the entire national network of roads, where frequent truck crashes occur, has no access to Hazmat units. The N5, N3 and northern N1 are without these units crucial for cleaning up hazardous materials on the roads.

In another reply in the Legislature it was stated that no fire services or Hazmat units were available during the June 2021 violent protests in Harrismith. These functions were sourced from the local community.

Only four municipalities are members of their local Fire Protection Associations. We see fire engines with no wheels, or standing in a private workshop for years. Fire fighters most often do not have protective clothing, while the fire stations are in total disrepair. Where municipalities do have a fire service, it is most often totally understaffed and under resourced.

As an example Mantsopa municipality is required to have 38 vehicles for firefighting, including 6 water pumpers of various capacities, 2 rescue units, 2 Unimogs, 1 hydraulic platform, a turntable ladder, an incident command unit, 2 response vehicles, 2 Hazmat units, etc, but it only has 2 water pumpers and 1 bakkie. With 16 firefighters, it seems that some will have to walk to the scene of the fire.

The only municipality in Lejweleputswa district with any fire service is Matjhabeng, but many of its vehicles are in the workshop.

The vast Xhariep district, with its three municipalities has no fire services at all.

It is quite clear that the ANC government in the Free State has entirely abdicated its responsibility in terms of fire and emergency services. Houses simply burn down with the only response from the municipality being blankets brought by councillors afterwards. Huge tracts of farmland are destroyed with the only response coming from farmers, with some assistance from Working on Fire.

In contrast, the world class Western Cape Provincial Disaster Management Centre, has staff on 24 hour duty, monitoring hotspots where disasters are likely, through satellite and drone technology as well as on the ground teams. All emergency services, including air services, fire teams, traffic, NSRI, SAPS, ambulances, NGO’s, and EXCO can provide an immediate response with the pre-planned resources required.

In Jagersfontein, no-one in government could provide Gift of the Givers with any estimate of displaced persons three days after the slime dam breach. There had clearly been no clue about the danger, nor the area which would likely be affected, nor the number of houses or people who could be impacted.

The Democratic Alliance will file questions in parliament to the Minister of Cogta, and will continue to expose the failures of this provincial government, to empower voters to know what services they are voting for in future.

Issued by Leona Kleynhans - DA COGTA Spokesperson in the Free State Legislature