Foot and Mouth Disease report withheld by Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson

The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tina Joemat-Pettersson has refused to release the full report on the state of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in South Africa.

The DA submitted an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) on the 14th of June 2013 for several reports on the state of animal health in the country, including a report on the state of FMD in South Africa compiled by the World Health Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

After an outbreak of FMD in 2011, South Africa's beef exports to the European Union (EU) were banned. The ban on beef exports has not been lifted since and has cost the country R4 billion annually in revenue and impacted on jobs.

After the outbreak, the OIE compiled a report on the state of FMD in South Africa with recommendations that the department would have to implement in order to restore confidence that South African beef is safe for export. Once the recommendations were implemented, the ban of South African beef exports would be lifted. The ban has not been lifted, and it can be assumed that the department has not implemented the OIE's recommendations.

Instead of providing the full report on the state of FMD in South Africa since the 2011 ban, the department provided a letter revealing that a report had in fact been compiled by OIE officials on the status of the FMD in the country and provided key recommendations to solve poor animal health controls, but failed to make the report available for public scrutiny.

In order to prevent any further outbreaks, Minister Joemat-Pettersson must make the report available in order to allow farmers and communities to implement the OIE recommendations and ultimately ensure South Africa's food security.

On Friday, 26 July 2013, I submitted another application in terms of PAIA to obtain the OIE report among other animal health reports such as the 2011 Swanepeol report on Rift Valley Fever (RVF).

The Minister cannot continue withholding key information that could improve the safety of South Africa's meat. The FMD outbreak in Limpopo last week is a perfect example of what could have been avoided if the OIE report recommendations had been implemented.

Statement issued by Annette Steyn MP, DA Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries, July 28 2013

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