🚨 When Help Becomes Expected – The Story of the DFW’s Silent Withdrawal 🚨

MOU with Municipality cancelled by DFW, and future vision probably back to member based service delivery.

In 2017, a small group of concerned farm owners in Drakenstein rolled up their sleeves. Tired of waiting, they acted—founding the Drakenstein Farm Watch (DFW), a non-profit, public benefit, self-funded emergency response unit. Built from scratch, the DFW became a lifeline in the often-forgotten rural stretches of our municipality.

They built what others only dreamed of:
✅ A 24/7 control room
✅ Private radio network
✅ A fleet of fire trucks, 4×4 rescue vehicles, and water tankers
✅ Ultra-modern fire suppression with UHP and CAFS units
✅ Medical first response teams
✅ Dozens of trained and equipped local volunteers

And they didn’t stop there. Even outside their member network, DFW answered the call—rushing into informal settlements, remote farms, and public spaces, often as first responders, completely free of charge. When the others were possibly delayed, DFW delivered.

The Municipality praised them, awarded them a Certificate of Excellence in 2019, and even formally appointed DFW responders as Disaster Management volunteers during COVID when official responders were hardly available. An MOU started in 2019 valid until revoked by the DFW now recently, was drafted to coordinate the growing partnership and organizing liabilities and legalities.

But goodwill has its limits.
By 2025, the DFW had spent millions from private pockets for free service delivery outside the DFW member group and never requesting a cent.  The demand, however, soared. Costs ballooned out of proportions. So, in March 2025, the DFW formally requested that the Municipality begin co-financing these numerous life-saving efforts.

And then… the tide turned.

Suddenly, the very entity that once welcomed free help, demanded compliance, questioned legality, and withdrew support with shattering accusations on social media.  

A tale as old as time:
🔄 The giver becomes the “problem”
🔄 The recipient plays the victim
🔄 The abuser cries foul when the free giving is set to stop.

Enough was enough.

In August 2025, after months of trying to find a resolution, the DFW cancelled the MOU and announced a complete halt of all services outside its original scope of the DFW member group, including:

• Free fire and rescue response to the broader community
• Free auxiliary support with fire trucks/tankers and manpower to the Local fire brigade
• DFW Community Response and certified training program for rural and informal settlements outside the DFW membership base.
• And finally response to general disasters and the costly supply of emergency supplies outside our member base.

Let it be crystal clear: We did not walk away. We were pushed aside.

💬 “Free help, once expected, becomes demanded. When denied, it breeds contempt. This was never the sought spirit of the free services we offered.”

As the next fire season looms, we ask the local authorities to reflect. Was this truly the right outcome? Could the loss of DFW’s capabilities and the response and the following more intense drama and material loss and even loss of life have been avoided by a more pro-active and appreciative stance?

Perhaps, when the silence sets in, and flames and drama rise, the value of true partnership will hopefully again be seen for what it was.

In the meantime, the DFW remain open to the Municipality to a fair, balanced Public–Private Partnership, built on respect, clarity, and shared costs and responsibility.

Until then, we step back and protect and focus on the farms, businesses and families within our legally mandated and signed up membership network—not in defeat, but in dignity.

We ask and urge all our members, to please have their communication network in order and the membership details up to date, especially as valid legal mandates are important for both insurance and deployment purposes.

The DFW Board
Serving with heart. Withdrawing with pain. Waiting with hope.