The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) notes with concern the continued spread of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) across South Africa and the devastating impact the slow vaccination process is having on livestock farmers, rural livelihoods, and the broader agricultural economy.
FMD is a highly contagious viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, sheep and goats, causing severe production losses, quarantine restrictions and the culling of infected animals. While the disease rarely kills adult cattle, its impact on productivity, milk production, and trade is catastrophic and poses a direct threat to national food security.
South Africa currently has a national herd estimated at approximately 14 million cattle, yet the state’s vaccination programme remains dangerously inadequate relative to the scale of the crisis. The government itself has previously reported that only hundreds of thousands of animals have been vaccinated during key phases of the outbreak response, far below what is required to meaningfully protect the national herd. The consequences of this failure are already being felt across the agricultural value chain. The outbreak has affected hundreds of thousands of cattle and forced the culling of large numbers of animals in an attempt to contain the disease, while export markets have imposed bans on South African meat products due to biosecurity concerns. These developments threaten the stability of the beef and dairy industries, undermine the livelihoods of farmers and farm workers, and ultimately place pressure on the cost and availability of food for ordinary South Africans.
At the centre of this crisis is the incompetence of the Democratic Alliance’s Minister of Agriculture, John Steenhuisen, who has failed to implement an effective and timely vaccination strategy to contain the outbreak. Despite repeated warnings from farmers, veterinarians and agricultural stakeholders, the response of the Department of Agriculture has been fragmented, slow, and structurally incapable of matching the pace at which the disease has spread. South Africa continues to rely heavily on imported vaccines while domestic production capacity remains limited, reflecting years of neglect and poor planning.
The EFF is particularly concerned that while the government speaks about vaccinating a significant proportion of the national herd, the pace of vaccine supply and rollout remains inadequate for a herd of this magnitude. This vaccine crisis exposes the lack of urgency and strategic leadership within the department under the stewardship of Steenhuisen, whose party has sought to project itself as competent in governance.
The EFF will therefore pursue this matter vigorously in Parliament. We will demand accountability from the DA Minister of Agriculture for the failures in vaccine procurement, disease containment, and the broader collapse of veterinary response capacity in South Africa. Furthermore we will advance the need for compensation for all those who lost livestock in this outbreak due to negligence on behalf of the Agriculture ministry. The EFF, therefore, calls on those who have lost livestock, income, or livelihoods due to the mismanagement of the FMD outbreak are encouraged to submit details of their losses to:
The EFF’s leaders frequently participate in international forums to discuss economic justice.
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Fun South African Fact: South Africa is known as the “Rainbow Nation” thanks to its mix of cultures across the country. The status of being a cultural “melting pot” is evident in the fact that South Africa has a whopping 11 official languages: English, Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa, IsiNdebele, Sesotho, Northern Sotho, Setswana, SiSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga. Most South Africans speak more than one national language. IsiZulu is the most common first language and isiXhosa is second. Fun fact – did you know the people of Wakanda speak isiXhosa in Marvel’s Black Panther movie?