By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen has been accused of undermining the urgent legal proceedings against the obstruction of private foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine procurement and administration.
The FMD outbreak started in April 2025 and has since spread to all nine provinces in South Africa, with farmers across the country battling the highly contagious disease.
So far, the government has responded through export-certification requirements and restricting the movement of animals.
Steenhuisen and the Department of Agriculture have also introduced a multi-pronged approach to securing the vaccines needed to treat the national herd.
As the government currently lacks the capacity to produce all of the vaccines it needs, with vaccine manufacturing capacity at Onderstepoort gutted over the past few years, it has relied heavily on imports from countries like Argentina, Turkey, and Botswana.
The court ordered that if the Minister wanted to start a vaccination plan, he must have it ready by 17 April. It also ordered that farmers and experts, who were previously locked out, can now help finish the plan.
The court made it clear that the government could no longer ignore the urgency of the crisis.
This week, the court ordered Steenhuisen to publish his delayed section 10 vaccination scheme by May 5 and set May 11 for argument in an urgent application brought by Sakeliga, South African Agri Initiative (SAAI) and Free State Agriculture.
Sakeliga said that Steenhuisen and his officials undermined urgent legal proceedings.
These legal proceedings concern the obstruction of private procurement and administration of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccines.
“The delay tactics found no favour with the court, and stringent new court deadlines have now been imposed,” Sakeliga said.
Sakeliga said there is widespread distress among farmers, agribusinesses, and animals affected by the disease.
However, despite this distress, the Minister, his Director-General, and the Director of Animal Health sought permission to postpone the hearing until 2 June 2026.
“The court did not grant this, and explicitly criticised the Minister and fellow respondents for their lethargic conduct,” Sakeliga said.
“Minister Steenhuisen has now missed many deadlines. Among others, his December 2025 commitment to produce a section 10 scheme in January 2026.”
Sakeliga, SAAI, and Free State Agriculture will proceed with their litigation and prepare for the hearing on 11 May 2026.
“Our position remains that there is no impediment in law to privately administering lawfully obtained FMD vaccines,” the organisations said.
“We want to remove the unlawful impediments maintained by the Minister and prevent unlawful government interference with private importation of approved vaccines.”
The organisations insist their litigation seeks to remove the unlawful impediments maintained by the Minister, as well as to prevent unlawful government interference with private importation of approved vaccines.