Question NW2816 to the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
16 November 2018 - NW2816
Cebekhulu, Inkosi RN to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Whether any investigation has been undertaken in order to trace what happened to tractors that went missing after they were delivered to provinces; if not, what is his department planning on doing to (a) recover the tractors that disappeared and (b) ensure that those entrusted with the tractors are held accountable; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), donated tractors to the Provincial Departments of Agriculture (PDAs) eight years ago as a once off support. On delivery these tractors became the ownership and responsibility of each PDA to distribute within their respective provinces.
DAFF has conducted an investigation to verify the status of all tractor assets for each PDA focusing on the condition and usability of each tractor. During this investigation some tractors were found to be unavailable or missing. To date DAFF has compiled a status report that indicates the state of tractors in each province and the missing tractors have been captured as such. Currently communication to get responses on the missing tractors is in progress amongst the Engineers that were part of the investigation. The next steps are that in November DAFF will share the report and liaise with the Executive officials from PDAs to embark on further investigations to track these missing tractors with the intention of locating these back into the pool.