The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) have adopted a motion by the Democratic Alliance (DA) that hopes to address potential challenges relating to the drought.

In his motion on Tuesday, DA member of the NCOP Roy Jankielsohn said that the severe drought "has the potential to impact negatively on food security and political stability". Jankielsohn highlighted some of the knock-on effects of the water crisis, emphasising food issues.

"Food security was one of the major reasons for the so-called Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt, which emphasises the role of food security in securing political stability."

Jankielsohn added that, besides ensuring food security, the agricultural sector in the country played an important role in ensuring social and economic stability through their income generation and job creation in rural communities

"[The] council calls on government to support the agricultural community through drought relief and by ensuring that policy and legislative proposals do not cause additional stress on a sector that is already vulnerable and facing an exodus of skills and expertise that have taken many generations to create.

"Council recognises the contributions of subsistence, emerging and commercial farmers who continue to produce food for our nation."

The country has been hard hit by a severe drought, with conditions worsening over the past few weeks. KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State have been declared disaster areas.

News24.com