Government’s reaction to Foot & Mouth Disease has caused far more damage than the disease itself
30 January 2020
As part of my real state of the nation tour, I conducted an oversight visit to a cattle auction pen in Bela-Bela, Limpopo earlier this week. This auction pen, like so many others across the country, has been severely affected by government’s poor initial response to the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in the province, followed by a complete overreaction in the form of a nation-wide ban on livestock gathering and auctions.
I have today written to the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, to request that she report to Parliament, within 21 days, on her plan of action to fight the disease, which should include revoking this ban in areas not affected. (Please find letter attached here)
While the reason given for the ban sounds noble – to combat the spread of the disease – government has effectively taken a sledgehammer to a situation that required a scalpel. And in the process they have caused great damage to everyone who earns a living from South Africa’s red meat industry.
Managing a Foot & Mouth Disease outbreak properly is a long and detailed process. If you don’t do it right, the consequences can be devastating. What happened here in Limpopo, when Foot and Mouth was detected at an auction pen near Polokwane, was a textbook example of what not to do. After the initial quarantine and testing, government should have immediately embarked on a programme of disinfecting farms, vehicles and equipment in the area. They didn’t, and so it fell to the farmers themselves to do government’s work, at their own expense.