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The multi-governmental, multi-departmental Fires 2000 Project team, appointed after the devastating Cape Peninsula veldfires at the beginning of last year to ensure efficient veldfire and disaster management in future, is expected to deliver their second progress report soon.

The team representing the fields of nature conservation; disaster management, emergency and community safety; development planning and environment; aerial fire fighting; and national and provincial aspects had their first progress report tabled at a Western Cape Cabinet meeting on the 25th of last month. It will submit its second report towards the end of October.

After the devastating fires of January and February 2000, the Western Cape Cabinet appointed a provincial task team that completed a report on the fires in February 2000, making 41 recommendations. At the same time, the National Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, Ronnie Kasrils, commissioned an investigation into the underlying reasons for the severity of the veldfires and the lessons that could be learnt for efficient veldfire management in the future. The national report was completed in September 2000 and contained 76 recommendations.

The Western Cape Government's Department of Planning, Local Government and Housing faced the formidable task of giving effect to the recommendations of both reports. The main question was who would take charge of the recommendations as they stretched across all spheres of government. The answer was to combine the two reports and formulate a single implementation process based on project management principles.

The result was a manageable implementation programme incorporating all 117 recommendations - grouped in five different categories and allocated to five project teams, namely:

* Project Team 1 (Nature Conservation): Team Leader, Mr. Z Erasmus, Deputy Director, Western Province Nature Conservation Board.

* Project Team 2 (Disaster Management, Emergency and Community Safety): Team leader, Mr. G Laskey, Acting Head, Protection Services, City of Cape Town.

* Project Team 3 (Development Planning and Environment): Team leader, Mr. D Kruger, Director, Regional Planning, Provincial Government of the Western Cape.

* Project Team 4 (Aerial Fire Fighting): Team leader, Colonel HJ Carstens, Air Force, South African National Defence Force.

* Project Team 5 (National and Provincial Aspects): Team leader, Mr. S Carstens - Deputy Director, Disaster Management, Provincial Government of the Western Cape.

The main objective of the teams is to make sure that all role-players take part, ensuring the effective and efficient implementation of the recommendations, through shared management.

Enquiries: Sampie Steenkamp at (021) 483 5509

Issued by: Office of the MEC for Local Government and Development Planning, Western Cape, 30 August 2001