The rapid spread of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the Eastern Cape is threatening the province’s prized disease-free livestock herds, with farmers warning that delays in vaccination could have lasting economic consequences.
Agri Eastern Cape president Peter Cloete said the outbreak was no longer contained and posed a direct risk to one of the province’s most valuable agricultural assets — its disease-free buffalo herds.
“The effect of this will create a permanent source of infection outside of our traditional infected zones,” Cloete warned.
In total, 104 confirmed FMD outbreaks have been recorded in the Eastern Cape, with a further 146 suspected cases awaiting confirmation — a rate of more than three new infections a day.
Cloete said only pre-emptive vaccination could halt the spread of the disease and criticised the government-directed rollout as too slow and poorly co-ordinated.
He said more than 20-million vaccine doses were required nationally to contain the disease, yet progress had been limited.
“Success and progress are claimed when 2.5-million doses enter the country.
“These doses have in many cases been administered without proper traceability and animal identification,” Cloete said.
Frustration over the vaccination programme has escalated to the point where legal action has been launched against agriculture minister John Steenhuisen.
Organised agriculture is seeking to open the door for the private sector to procure and administer vaccines.
The dispute played out in the North Gauteng High Court this week, where farming groups argued that there was no legal barrier preventing livestock owners from sourcing and administering vaccines independently.
According to a South African Government News Agency report late on Tuesday, the application brought by Sakeliga and others seeking urgent interim relief was not granted and the matter was postponed to allow the department to finalise its vaccination scheme.
Welcoming the ruling, Steenhuisen said: “This matter was never simply about access to vaccines.
“It was about ensuring that South Africa’s response to FMD remains credible, co-ordinated and compliant with the legal framework that protects both our national herd and our export markets.”
The applicants had sought urgent relief to allow independent procurement and administration of vaccines, as well as an order preventing the government from interfering in agreements between suppliers and producers.
Earlier, Cloete said the standoff reflected a broader breakdown in co-ordination between government and industry structures, including the Ministerial Task Team and the Industry Co-ordinating Council.
“The failure to do so fell squarely at the door of Steenhuisen,” he said.
Eastern Cape businessman and World Farmers Organisation livestock committee member Prince Sivile Mabandla said the impact of the outbreak was already severe, with losses mounting across the sector.
“The impact of foot-and-mouth disease, in our view, is more severe than Covid-19.
“We have governments who are reluctant to issue permits for private individual farmers to vaccinate their own livestock.”
He said farmers could access vaccines at significantly lower prices than those offered through government channels.
“The vaccine that the government is offering costs R80. Initially, the cost was R300 per dose.
“We, the farmers are saying, but we can, we have access to our own dose in terms of medicine, you know, at R25 maximum.”
Mabandla argued that a decentralised approach was needed to contain the outbreak.
“If we were the department of agriculture, we would flood the market with different FMD vaccines to enable all the individual private, small, medium and big farmers to have access to the vaccine, because we do not necessarily believe that government has capacity to vaccinate all the livestock.”
He estimated that losses in the beef industry alone had already exceeded R15bn nationally, excluding the effects on game, sheep and goat farming.
“Our fear is that by the time government is ready to roll out the vaccines, sheep, pigs and goats will also be infected.”
He said some farmers had already been forced to cull thousands of animals, while others were unable to sell livestock due to movement restrictions.
“To feed 20,000 pigs on a daily basis, you’re probably looking at R200,000 a week.
“If you have a pig feedlot and due to FMD emergency you cannot transport, you cannot sell, you are forced to keep it.”
I have lost a sizeable export contract I have with Kenya, Saudi Arabia, as well as Qatar over the last 18 months — we couldn’t export
— Prince Sivile Mabandla, Eastern Cape businessman and World Farmers Organisation livestock committee member
Mabandla said the outbreak was also damaging export markets built over many years.
“I have spent probably 15 years travelling various countries in the Middle East and Africa, convincing them on the viability and quality of South African livestock.
“I have lost a sizeable export contract I have with Kenya, Saudi Arabia, as well as Qatar over the last 18 months — we couldn’t export.”
However, the department of agriculture has rejected claims that it is blocking private-sector involvement, arguing that strict oversight is necessary to manage the outbreak.
In court papers, acting director-general Dipepeneneng Serage said the state had a legal responsibility to control vaccine procurement and administration.
“The truncated urgent procedure was premeditated to ambush the respondents and divert the ministry and the department from the urgent national task of containing the disease’s outbreak.”
He said private importation of vaccines was permitted, but subject to regulatory controls.
“Private importation of the vaccine is restricted.
“Farmers cannot import vaccines directly without the department’s approval. All importers must apply for permits.”
Serage argued that allowing uncontrolled private vaccination would undermine efforts to restore SA’s disease-free status.
“The relief sought would effectively authorise the flouting of these statutory prescripts and the bypassing of the [South African Health Products Regulatory Authority’s] regulatory oversight and the directorate’s biosecurity controls. That is impermissible.”
He said the department planned to procure millions of vaccine doses to inoculate 14-million cattle within months, and maintained that oversight of procurement, distribution and record-keeping was essential.
“Private veterinarians may be authorised to administer vaccines,” he said, but key processes would remain under state control.
Industry groups, however, argue that the state lacks the capacity to move quickly enough, particularly given the scale of the outbreak and the limited number of veterinarians available.
At the centre of the dispute is whether regulatory control is protecting the system — or slowing it down.
Cloete warned that without urgent intervention, the Eastern Cape could lose a key competitive advantage in the agricultural sector.
“This indicates just over three new infections per day.
“Only by pre-emptive vaccination can this spread be stopped.” — additional reporting by Business Day
Daily Dispatch
Adrienne Carlisle,Mpumzi Mshweshwe,Sinesipho Schrieber
www.dailydispatch.co.za