Dear Editor
Winning the fight against Foot and Mouth Disease is essential for South Africa’s red meat industry. An announcement yesterday that red meat in South Africa remains safe to eat, is of critical importance.
Since 2019’s outbreaks of Foot and Mouth there has been a severe impact on this sector of our economy.
What is needed is coordinated surveillance, and physical interventions to prevent the spread of the disease to unaffected animals, and to vaccinate at-risk animals to prevent them contracting the disease.
We are encouraged by the approach of the Agriculture Department which is addressing Foot and Mouth Disease through limiting the movement of affected and at-risk animals, and a vaccine programme that is rolling out rapidly. Yesterday we witnessed vaccines being administered at the Karan Beef facility.
Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen announced the procurement of R72-million of vaccines in early June, and just 10 days later 500,000 of the 900,000 vaccines arrived and were delivered under police guard. The DA calls for the distribution and admission of these vaccines to be done in equally rapid time, and we call for the vaccine programme to be compliant with the World Organisation for Animal Health.
Vaccines will only get us so far, and therefore physical barriers against the spread of Foot and Mouth Disease must also be enforced. We note that on 13 June 2025 the Department published critical regulations to ensure that animal-to-animal transmissions may be prevented, not just at the country’s borders but also at farm level, on transport corridors, and at animal auction sites
The DA calls for strict implementation and compliance with these regulations. The Minister’s regulations create a very sophisticated paper trail for traceability of animals, which is a welcome move. Traceability is non-negotiable.
Regards
Willie Aucamp MP
DA National Spokesperson