STATEMENT BY THE RT HON PRIME MINISTER

DR B.SIBUSISO DLAMINI

AT THE LAUNCH OF THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE, MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION PLAN AND DECLARATION OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY

AT THE CABINET OFFICES

THURSDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2016

 

Honourable Deputy Prime Minister

Honourable Ministers

Representatives of the Donor Community

Secretary to Cabinet and Senior Civil Servants

Representatives of parastatals, the private sector and non-government organisations

Representatives of the Media

Ladies and Gentlemen

 

On behalf of His Majesty’s Government I extend to you all, and especially donors, and representatives of parastatals and the private sector, a very warm welcome to my Offices.

Today, Government is declaring the current drought situation a national emergency.

Almost the entire Swazi Nation, to varying degrees, is affected by the present drought, caused primarily by the cyclical dry weather phenomenon known as El Nino. Starting as far back as 2014, the drought has, throughout the subsequent months, deepened in severity, with a path that has defied regional weather forecasting and, in our case, as in many other areas of Southern Africa, with devastating consequences.

The negative impact of the drought has led to seriously diminished water availability for crop production, human consumption and livestock sustenance. At the present time, we count the loss of around 40,000 head of cattle, and have to report a serious food and water vulnerability currently experienced by approximately 300,000 of our people, which is around 25% of the population. There has been a huge negative impact on business, especially agricultural business, with one of our biggest employers having to reduce irrigation down to 20% of the optimum level. The drought has also led to hydropower generation being suspended – a measure that is giving rise to load shedding.

 

That is the situation facing us today and, with dams and river flows at crisis levels, we have encountered an unprecedented challenge of this kind. The rains have begun but we need a great deal more, and therefore, we pray for good soak rains to fall across the country in the next few weeks, prior to the dry winter months that will follow. But any such rains cannot reverse the damage to crop production and livestock mortality already experienced, and having such a negative impact on the livelihoods of so many of our people, now and into the foreseeable future. Rural and urban areas across the country have been adversely affected, though our population is largely rural-based and especially hard hit by the drought.

From the Multi Hazard Contingency Plan, the Crop and Food Security Assessment, and the Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis, the facts and expectations have been established to the best of Government’s ability. The details and costs have also been identified for what we calculate to be the necessary action of Government to deal with the unfolding crisis.

Taking into account the above circumstances it is now necessary, in accordance with the provisions of the Disaster Management Act of 2006, in particular Section 29 of the Act, for Government to announce the prevailing drought situation as a national emergency which will take immediate effect, with the existing emergency processes and management structures strengthened accordingly.

Our National Disaster Management Agency has already been established, with a management and implementation team recruited to deal with this, and any other, similarly disastrous challenges that may befall our country over the coming years.

Very much in common with how we established the necessary response to the devastating onset of the HIV and AIDS crisis in our country, we need to adopt the approach of being at war with a national enemy. For effective defence and counter-attack we have, therefore, drawn up our battle plan. It is in the form of the National Emergency Response, Mitigation and Adaptation Plan – I may also refer to it as NERMAP for ease of identification and enunciation. The Plan has been developed by a joint Government team working with the recently established National Disaster Management Agency, and a broad spectrum of stakeholders.   The Plan covers the Response for the entire country, covering both urban and rural dynamics of the drought situation.

The word “mitigation” captures our determination to tackle, and reduce, the adverse impact of the drought, and the word “adaptation” reflects our need to reduce our future vulnerability to such uncontrollable, and often unpredictable, challenges of nature. This will include actions commanded by His Majesty in his Speech from the Throne on 12 February 2016, such as the key measures of optimizing our use of land and productive soils, as well as investing in water harvesting technologies and irrigation systems that help us achieve consistent food security, and cope with any adverse weather patterns in the future. The general belt-tightening commanded by His Majesty should form an integral part of the adaptation process. Mitigation and adaptation are key strategies.

In addition to the cyclical occurrence of El Nino, there will be an unpredictability and extremity in future climate behaviour as the undeniable consequence of global greenhouse gas emissions and the resultant global warming. Across the world society has to be better prepared for this new challenge to our survival. Mitigation and adaptation are, again, key strategies.

The Plan, NERMAP, which we are officially launching today, identifies Government’s future actions, their timing and the corresponding costs.  

Recognising the severity of the drought, E45 million was set aside in late 2015 to respond to the food and water shortages.  That amount has already been disbursed on emergency measures that are underway. Over the next two months an additional E248 million is needed, of which we will propose to Parliament that Government will make a further contribution of E105 million for enhancing the programmes across the sectors: agriculture, water, energy, health, education, social security and sanitation. We trust that this additional contribution will be duly recognized as we pursue urgently the task of sourcing the remaining shortfall of E143 million in the current 2015/16 financial year.

But there is still a substantial financial shortfall for the coming five years. In 2016/17 alone, we will seek Parliament’s approval for a further Government contribution of E300 million for meeting the projected emergency needs. For implementation of NERMAP over the five years the total additional requirement will be E1.4 billion. That is the magnitude of what we will be taking on a formal basis to the donor community. The appropriate Ministries of Government, working closely with the private sector, must now give priority to the emergency response. The Ministry of Economic Planning and Development which is responsible for aid coordination, and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister are hereby tasked to open urgent discussions with donor agencies.

An appeal for financial and other assistance is considerably more effective if donor agencies have evidence that the host country has made its own sacrifices to accompany the highly welcomed and appreciated donor support. Furthermore, appealing for help, and formalizing that request with the declaration of a situation of emergency, is far more effective when accompanied by a plan, which captures the necessary actions and accompanying costs. Given the magnitude of the challenge presented by the drought, and our need to seek formally a substantial amount of external financial and technical assistance, it has been necessary to provide the assurance that our plans are robust, and that we have the capacity in place to utilize resource support properly and effectively.

And, in this battle against the drought, every individual in our country has a part to play. The defining concept is collaboration. That is what wins battles. In the first instance, collaboration should manifest itself by everyone putting his or her shoulder to the wheel, so to speak, and taking a pride in sensible water and electricity use, and devising resourceful water harvesting techniques. Let the street credibility across the country give special recognition to those displaying responsibility and ingenuity in the harvesting and use of water. We also have a responsibility not only to work together but to help each other, whether it is the youth assisting the elderly, or the fit and able helping the disabled.

And, furthermore, let us all take the right approach to what achieving food and water security should be understood to mean. These represent a very substantial portion of the emergency stage of NERMAP and are putting into practice Government’s total commitment to ensuring that not one life should be in jeopardy for an inability to access food and water as a result of the drought. It is not, and cannot be, a substitute for other poverty reduction schemes in place throughout the country. Government’s resource envelope has defined limitations in terms of targeted beneficiaries in response interventions. We must make every Lilangeni work, not only through correct and transparent procurement and accounting processes but also in accurately targeting victims of the drought.

It is now my honour, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, to launch the National Emergency Response, Mitigation and Adaptation Plan and ask the Nation to give it their full and undivided support.

Thank you.