As South Africa enters week three of its national cattle movement ban, the country still battles over 120 open outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). Meanwhile, experts caution that it is law-abiding farmers and meat consumers who will bear the brunt of what some call government’s “knee-jerk” response to curbing the spread of the virus.
In its latest FMD surveillance report, the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development confirmed that South Africa currently has 127 open FMD outbreaks in the previously FMD-free zone.
As it stands, KwaZulu-Natal has 78 open outbreaks at different properties, followed by the Free State’s 24 and North West’s 14 open outbreaks. Meanwhile, Limpopo has seven open outbreaks, Gauteng has three and Mpumalanga one.
According to the report, KwaZulu-Natal has five new cases in the Big 5 Hlabisa municipality. These were reported as recently as Monday (29 August). Two outbreaks in the province have been resolved.
Out of Free State’s 24 open outbreaks, five new cases were reported on 29 August. In North West, the last case was reported on 21 June but, in both provinces, no outbreaks have been resolved yet.
In Limpopo, there are seven affected properties, with the last new case reported on 13 June. The province has managed to resolve one outbreak so far. Gauteng has three open outbreaks, with one new case reported on 29 August, and three outbreaks resolved. Meanwhile, Mpumalanga has one open outbreak, reported on 5 August.
According to minister Thoko Didiza, the new cases reported were likely already on the farms at the time when the standstill was initiated.
“And some are neighbours of already-infected properties with contagious spread. Given the incubation period and the delay in showing clinical signs, the effect of the standstill will be better appreciated after two weeks,” she says.
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Meat consumers and law-abiding producers
In order to halt the spread of FMD, the movement of cattle in the whole country was temporarily suspended on 18 August 2022. South Africa is currently in the third week of its 21-day cattle movement ban. The restriction will remain in place only “until the current exponential spread of FMD has been stopped”.
Brent Mcnamara, CEO of Agri Eastern Cape, deems the national ban on the movement of cattle an irrational decision taken by the minister of agriculture.
“Law-abiding producers, who are not the problem, will probably adhere to the control measures, while those producers, speculators, and agents who are the problem will just continue movement without sanction.”
Mcnamara does not understand why a national ban has been imposed when, currently, the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, and Western Cape have no reported cases of FMD.
Meat consumer will ultimately also bear the brunt of government’s “knee-jerk” response to curbing the spread of the disease, he says.
“Meat prices to the consumers within the Eastern Cape are going to rise and normal market forces will be disrupted, and most certainly taken advantage of by some within the industry.
“In its current form, the national ban will only aid in the continued destruction of the economy and severely impact the smaller role players within the value chain.”
The processes to be allowed to move animals under permit for slaughter, are impractical and costly, Mcnamara states.
“In fact, [it] cannot be effectively complied with given the limited number of private and state veterinarians. These measures are going to have an impact on animal welfare, such as emergency slaughters, the essential transport of dairy animals from run-off farms to milking farms and the transport of dairy calves to growing-out facilities.”
To avoid the disastrous impact on law-abiding producers and meat consumers, Mcnamara reckons physical movement control points need to be set up.
Moving cattle under the ban is illegal
Meanwhile, according to Dr Mpho Maja, director of animal health at the department, all affected farms and feedlots in North West, the Free State, Gauteng and Mpumalanga are currently under quarantine with strict access control. The locations involved are well fenced and the movement of animals from these farms can be effectively prevented.
“There are still movement restrictions on cloven-hoofed animals, their products and genetic materials out of, into, within or through the KZN disease management area.
“Visible veterinary patrols and roving road blocks are directed to cover high risk areas according to information on possible movement of animals.
“The illegal movement of animals from the FMD protection zone with vaccination to the FMD-free zone played a significant role in all of the current outbreaks. The outbreaks in KZN and Limpopo were directly caused by such proven or suspected illegal movements,” Maja says.
Meanwhile, the livestock industry is actively assisting in the clamp-down on illegal movements by cooperating with veterinary services and stock theft units in reporting suspect movements of animals and by reporting animals of suspect origin being presented at auctions.
Farmers are warned that any illegally moved animals found will be seized and destroyed, and perpetrators will be prosecuted for contravention of the Animal Diseases Act, 1984 (Act No 35 of 1985).
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