The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) demands an investigation into an e-mail concerning foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) that was allegedly written by the Chief of Staff of Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, which reads “Attached just received for some amusement”.
The e-mail from the Minister of Agriculture’s Chief of Staff, Ms Jana le Roux, which is currently circulating on social media, is addressed to the Director-General and Deputy Director-General of Agriculture.
The e-mail contains a request from an agricultural group for engagement on the Department of Agriculture’s vaccination strategy for foot-and-mouth disease.
On the face of it, the e-mail was sent to the Director-General of Agriculture, Mr Ramasodi Mooketsa, and the relevant Deputy Director-General, Mr Dipepeneneng Serage, with the remark: “Attached just receive for some amusement”.
If this e-mail is authentic, it confirms the general impression that Minister Steenhuisen, his ministry and Department are not taking the agricultural sector’s input regarding the crisis seriously. On the contrary, it demonstrates deep-rooted and reprehensible contempt.
The party demands that the e-mail be investigated and if verified to be true, that action be taken against the official in question. Foot-and-mouth disease is anything but a joke. It is a disaster of enormous proportions.
Scapegoating a single official is not enough, though. The Department’s entire culture needs to be overhauled; something that will be difficult to achieve without more heads rolling.
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