MOLATEDI, South Africa: A devastating drought has claimed thousands of livestock in South Africa’s most developed economic areas with the fear of looming famine.
On the cracked earth, hundreds of cattle wander in search of the last drinking hole or that rare blade of grass.
A drying carcass of a cow lies on the parched ground, carved up by vultures.
According to meat producers, tens of thousands of cattle have died or are being culled due to the drought.
A few kilometres away in the district of Madikwe, 30 villagers join Josephine Motsoasele, a traditional healer leading prayers for rain.
In a trance-like manner, farmers and villagers draped in colourful traditional cloths and sing and pray in local vernacular Setswana for the heavens to open up.
‘God, give us rain because we have a big problem,’ Motsoasele prays, fearing widespread starvation. It is not yet noon, but the room temperature has already breached 40 degrees Celsius.
The drought, blamed on the global cyclical extreme weather system El Nino, is the country’s worst since 1982.
Located near the border with Botswana, the man-made Molatedi dam is the largest in the province of 3.7 million people. It is now only five percent full.
