Animals die on EMM owned farm

Several animals on the municipality-owned Spaarwater Farm were in such a poor condition that they had to be euthanised last week while others had already died of starvation and dehydration.

According to the ward 18 councillor for Edenvale, Clr Heather Hart, the situation at Spaarwater Incubation Farm was startlingly similar to the gross neglect of animals exposed at a farm which belonged to the chairperson for the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Member of Parliament Thandi Modise.

DA Caucus Leader, Fortune Mahano and Councillors Wally Labuschagne, Cliff Patterson and Phillip De Lange, visited Spaarwater on Monday last week to inspect the area after rumours emerged that some animals had died at the farm.

The farm, near Nigel, is a project which the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) started two years ago after the land was purchased in the 2012/2013 financial year for R10-million.

“The farm was originally intended to be a centre of development and upliftment of communities to teach residents scientific farming methods and to incubate various fruit and vegetable plants to be moved to community food gardens,” said Clr Hart.

She added that last year a City Planning and Economic Development (CPED) multi-party oversight committee recommended that a full time professional farm manager be appointed.

“This was not done and no animals should have been allowed on the farm until there was a professional to oversee their care,” said Clr Hart.

The opposition party has called for an investigation to take place into how neglect to this extent was allowed to happen and why the municipality had not yet put proper management in place.

Clr Hart requested a detailed report on the matter and was told that the farm did not have electricity to power the boreholes.

“As a temporary solution, the EMM was providing a water tanker to supply the animals with water. Further investigations found that the transformer used to pump water from the boreholes had blown five months prior with no intervention by the CPED,” said Clr Hart.

“By the time the SPCA was called in, almost all the pigs were in such a poor condition that they had to be put down, or were already dead. Chickens on the brink of death were also removed,” she added.

A single pig requires up to 10 litres of water every day, and a chicken up to two litres.

“The EMM’s solution of tankers was woefully inadequate but could have been a stopgap method for a couple of days while the transformer was replaced. Instead, these animals were slowly dehydrated,” said Clr Hart.

She also said that the lack of a qualified, knowledgeable farm manager meant representatives of the community involved were left to their own devices.

“Not only has R10-million been wasted, but a further R5-million per year has been ploughed into the farm, the benefits of which are impossible to see,” said Clr Hart.

The NEWS sent an enquiry regarding Spaarwater Farm to the spokesperson for the EMM, Mr Temba Gadebe, on Friday, October 24.

Comment was requested by Monday, October 27.

At the time of going to print, no comment was received.