The second large outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease within just four months proves that the government is not serious about combating the disease, and is in fact facilitating the spread of it with senseless regulations.
The three-week ban on the transport of cattle that the Minister of Agriculture, Thoko Didiza, announced on 16 August 2022, by means of a media statement will not only have serious repercussions for farmers, but will also have a negative impact on consumers and the entire red meat industry.
The details of the restrictions have not been published in the Government Gazette yet.
Against this backdrop, it is mind boggling that the Minister gave permission for livestock to be transported for “ritual purposes”.
It is unacceptable that cattle farmers’ hands are tied in this way while criminals can easily exploit the exception for so-called ritual purposes to continue their illicit operations.
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development admits in an oversight report, which was also released on 16 August 2022, that the illicit transport of animals is one of the main causes of the wide spread of foot-and-mouth disease.
And yet no special proposal for how to stop it was put forward, apart from saying that the “industry” is “actively” helping the police to apprehend offenders.
The FF Plus warned earlier this year that crime is out of control and the safety net, which is supposed to stop foot-and-mouth disease from spreading any further, is apparently full of holes.
With the previous outbreak in May, China placed an immediate ban on the import of all cloven-hoofed animals and their products, like wool, from South Africa.
The constant resurgence of the disease has a direct effect on the South African economy, which is still trying to recover from the damaging effects of the Covid-19 regulations.
After the widespread foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in 2019, strict control measures were put in place and funds were earmarked for safe zones to ensure that the infection does not spread any further.
Clearly, the execution of this plan leaves much to be desired.
South Africa lost its international status with the World Organisation for Animal Health in 2019 already, which dealt a severe blow to agriculture and the livestock industry in particular.
The FF Plus will once again ask the national Department of Agriculture to intensify law enforcement, and to see to it that the existing bio-security measures are effectively implemented as they will help the industry rather than hamper it, like this ban is doing.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Tammy Breedt on FF Plus
