{"id":847844,"date":"2026-01-14T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=847844"},"modified":"2026-01-14T14:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T12:18:13","slug":"dark-times-ahead-for-an-important-south-african-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/847844\/dark-times-ahead-for-an-important-south-african-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark times ahead for an important South African industry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Many experts have warned that foot-and-mouth disease is out of control in South Africa and poses an existential threat to many livestock farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disease was present in South Africa for a few years. However, it exploded into a national disaster in early 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Infected cattle from KwaZulu-Natal were sold at an auction, and the virus was transported by unsuspecting buyers into Mpumalanga and Gauteng.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government failed to contain the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, and it is currently active in seven provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmers in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Free State, Mpumalanga, North West, Limpopo, and Western Cape are battling the disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The livestock industry is under extreme pressure. Export markets are restricted, and local meat and dairy prices are expected to rise sharply due to decreased production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September 2025, Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen rejected claims from the Red Meat Producers Organisation that the disease was out of control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he soon changed his tune after experts described the outbreak as one of the most severe in South Africa\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November 2025, Steenhuisen admitted there were serious problems despite vaccinating 931,200 animals with vaccines purchased from Botswana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe must be honest with the public and with our farming sector. This is a battle we are currently not winning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steenhuisen announced plans to vaccinate all the cattle in South Africa from Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) starting in February 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite these plans, many experts said that this ambitious vaccination project is unlikely to work as planned, and a more urgent response is needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem for farmers is that they are prohibited from buying vaccines and vaccinating their livestock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foot-and-mouth disease is classified as a state-controlled disease, which means only the government may procure and distribute vaccines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, farmers are prohibited from sourcing or administering vaccines themselves, even if they can afford them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that even when animals are dying in front of their eyes, they must wait for the government to stop the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dark times ahead for livestock farmers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dr Wynand Boshoff, Freedom Front Plus MP and chief spokesperson for agriculture, warned that this is a serious crisis for livestock farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He accused the Department of Agriculture of dragging its feet in enforcing legislation while more and more farmers struggle to keep their heads above water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the Department\u2019s responsibility to enable farmers to quickly confirm whether sick animals have foot-and-mouth disease and support vaccination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, however, the waiting period for test results is two weeks or longer. By then, the animals in question have already recovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surrounding herds that have to be quarantined after a positive result could also be legally moved during the waiting period, allowing the disease to spread further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is the government’s duty to ensure all farmers who wish to vaccinate are able to do so,\u201d Boshoff said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnderstepoort Biological Products, the state institution that produced sufficient vaccines for decades, can no longer meet demand due to poor management.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One solution to the problem would be to license existing and privately owned biological facilities, but it is not happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Department of Agriculture’s most recent policy is to vaccinate the entire South African cattle population,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he said there are serious questions from experts about the viability of this ambitious project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A calculation by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation showed vaccinating the national herd would cost around R5.4 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTraceability of cattle on communal and municipal commonage poses an additional practical problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) insisted that existing regulations be enforced stringently, with a focus on traceability of transported animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foot-and-mouth disease is a national disaster in South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Farmers are calling for the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak to be declared a national disaster in terms of South Africa\u2019s Disaster Management Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Southern Africa Agri Initiative (Saai) said this would bring critical benefits to struggling farmers and accelerate the containment of the outbreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saai added that the financial survival of family farmers must be placed at the centre of all efforts to combat the disease and to limit its severe economic impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saai CEO Francois Rossouw explained that declaring the FMD outbreak a national disaster would enable faster mobilisation of national resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A declaration would enable the government to rapidly deploy supplies, equipment, vehicles and facilities to affected areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would also strengthen vaccination campaigns, as well as roadblocks, checkpoints, disinfectants, and the overall response capacity to the outbreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

National government bodies could release personnel to provide emergency services, placing more people on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is needed for animal health interventions, inspections, enforcement of movement controls, awareness campaigns, and support for laboratories and field operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The national disaster will enhance powers to regulate the movement of people, goods, livestock, animal products, transport vehicles, auctions and informal movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The relevant minister would be empowered to activate appropriate national disaster management plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This would allow the issuing of rapid directives or regulations, promoting a coordinated, government-wide response rather than fragmented provincial approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Act provides for the effective dissemination of essential information, ensuring clearer and more uniform messaging to farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special procedures would speed up the procurement of essential supplies such as vaccines, diagnostic tests, and personal protective equipment (PPE).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA national disaster declaration would primarily unlock faster access to resources, personnel, procurement processes and stricter movement control,\u201d Saai said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are the most important tools to slow and contain the spread of FMD in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many experts have warned that the foot-and-mouth disease is out of control in South Africa and that it poses an existential threat to many livestock farmers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":847847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[22559,20591,24501,5853,24502,24504,24503],"class_list":["post-847844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-agriculture-minister-john-steenhuisen","tag-department-of-agriculture","tag-foot-and-mouth-disease-2","tag-freedom-front-plus","tag-red-meat-producers-organisation","tag-southern-africa-agri-initiative-saai","tag-wynand-boshoff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847844"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":847850,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847844\/revisions\/847850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}