After the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) on Monday called for a state of disaster to be declared in response to the widespread outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, the Minister of Agriculture, Mr John Steenhuisen, today announced that he will table this request with the next Cabinet meeting.
It would unlock additional resources to combat the disease.
The Minister indicated that eradicating the disease completely would entail a process spanning up to ten years.
Vaccination is an important part of the solution, but only when combined with a broader campaign, which should include control of movement and the enforcement of quarantine measures.
The ultimate goal is to restore South Africa’s status of being foot-and-mouth disease free, so that the livestock industry can regain access to all international markets. This includes, among other things, restoring South Africa’s capacity to manufacture vaccines for the specific strain of the disease.
The Freedom Front Plus welcomes this plan of action, but will critically monitor its implementation. The core issue is that every element of the plan announced today was already possible without a state of disaster. It is also the same as the recommendations that successive ministerial task teams have proposed since 2016.
Testing for the disease has been time-consuming since the outbreak began in 2021. By the time infection is confirmed, the animals in question have often already recovered, and some may already have been marketed. This facilitated further spread before any quarantine measures could be imposed.
Even after the disease reached epidemic proportions, there were still no roadblocks or other measures imposed to monitor animal movement.
Government’s law-enforcement agencies could have collaborated with farm watches to enforce the measures.
The steps the Minister announced today have, therefore, been recommended and possible since 2021.
The Freedom Front Plus truly wants to believe that decisive action will be taken, but will keep monitoring the situation together with industry organisations and continue to apply political pressure on the Department to deliver.
