The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo calls for the urgent intervention from the MEC and the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development to lift the suspension of overtime payments for officials responsible for controlling red-billed quelea birds commonly known as avian locusts which can decimate small-grain crops.
Historically, pest-control officials tasked with managing outbreaks of quelea, locusts, and similar pests were exempted from the overtime limits in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) and the Department of Public Service and Administration’s (DPSA) cost-containment restrictions. These exemptions allowed officials to work extended hours during emergency operations particularly at night, when quelea control is most effective.
Overtime restrictions were, however, imposed earlier this year, ostensibly pending the resolution of the administrative split between the Departments of Agriculture and Land Reform, but appear not to have been lifted.
The DA has repeatedly demanded answers from the Director-General (DG) of the National Department of Agriculture, Mr Mooketsa Ramasodi, regarding this suspension and the impact it has on ongoing pest-control operations. Despite assurances that the matter was receiving attention, no substantive response has been received and, alarmingly, no active quelea control is currently taking place.
The DG is fully aware of the massive risk that inadequate Quelea control poses to both commercial, emerging, and subsistence farmers. As early as July 2025, organised agriculture urged the Department to review and reinstate overtime arrangements to ensure that pest-control officials could respond during outbreaks. Local farmers assist by identifying roosting sites, providing labour, logistical support, and helping with clean-up operations.
The current bottleneck lies squarely with the Department’s management and its failure to resolve the overtime issue.
In Limpopo, Quelea outbreaks occur between October and March, peaking from December to February during the small-grain ripening period. Control operations are conducted after sunset at roosting and breeding sites where large colonies gather. Inadequate control poses a severe threat to food security and to the livelihoods of subsistence, emerging, and commercial farmers alike.
Each quelea consumes about 4 g of grain per day roughly 10% of its body weight while wasting nearly as much. A single colony of 400 000 birds can destroy around 1.6 tonnes of grain daily. With national populations of about 60 million birds managed annually, uncontrolled infestations could result in crop losses of roughly 240 tonnes or more than R1 million per day at current grain prices.
These pests do not wait for office hours and neither should the officials who protect South Africa’s food supply. There is no excuse for this level of administrative paralysis when farmers stand to lose millions of rand, and our national food security is at risk.