Africa-Press – Namibia. NAMIBIANS from all walks of life are rushing to the scenes of devastating veldfires to assist farmers, workers and members of the security forces to stop fires that opened a new front of destruction in the eastern-central and northwestern rangelands of cattle and game farming industries.
The Minister of Defence, Frans Kapofi, said that soldiers are employed to assist the farming communities with manpower. “Although military exercises are underway in the North, there are still troops in bases all over the country that have been sent to assist our farming communities with manpower,” he said.
Some of the fiercest veldfires forced firefighters, mostly farmers, and workers, to retreat and get out of the way of the raging flames that are meters in the air and jump over roads with the October seasonal winds complicating matters more.
The reliable volunteer, Henriette Le Grange, whose organisation Namibi Boere Droogtehulp for the past years ignited the nation’s spirit of volunteerism during the devastating drought and with losses in the recent fires South of Windhoek, is again at the forefront coordinating assistance to farmers who lost all grazing, some cattle and properties.
More than 2.1 million hectares of prime grazing areas that carried the hope of the revival of the national cattle herd have been destroyed and turned into ash in the past two months. It includes huge areas of Etosha, a world-famous natural landmark, as well as more remote areas in the corners of the vast Namibian horizons.
Huge fires are ranging from the far northwest, the west, and east and central mountains, while fires were detected in the northeast where hunter gatherers yearly set fires in order to increase wild fruit production after the first rains and green growth attracting animals as a result of early rains.
Farmers and their workers, as well as neighbouring communal farmers, are assisting in their areas. Manpower shortages are now compounded by a crisis developing around the availability of diesel for vehicles and pumps that are breaking down.
In some places, the frontline fighters are reinforced by volunteers from nearby towns and even city dwellers from Windhoek lend a hand in every possible way. At this stage, various social media groups are coordinating efforts in areas where reception can be found.
In many cases, data availability is becoming a challenge as Namibians are shoulder to shoulder in the trenches against one of the strongest forces of nature, where fires are unleashed in areas that were especially blessed by a good rain season and looked forward to an even better rain forecast for the 2021/2022 season.
