By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Government has announced a nationwide ban on the movement of cattle to curb an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
The prohibition is in place for 21 days and will be reviewed weekly, the agriculture ministry said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. Exceptions will be allowed for livestock being moved to abattoirs, as well the slaughter of the animals for ritual purposes during cultural
“Cattle that are already at shows, auctions and en route into the republic will be given 48 hours to be permitted to move to final destination after being sold. The local state veterinary office should be contacted for these permits,” Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza said.
The country is currently experiencing 116 incidents of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), involving farms, feedlots and communal areas in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, North West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Free State.
The ban is only applicable to cattle, as this was identified as the main cause of the continued spread of the disease. However, cloven hoofed animals can spread FMD, and the movement of sheep, goats, pigs and cloven hoofed game animals should also be handled with the necessary caution, said Didiza.
“It’s a very drastic intervention,” said Agri SA executive director Christo van der Rheede, adding that the severity of FMD probably justifies a total ban from government’s perspective. From a farmer’s perspective this will definitely have an impact on their livelihoods.
However, government should have acted much sooner – which would have prevented it from spreading it to the current extent, said Van der Rheede. This would have prevented a total ban.
“We cannot emphasise enough that there should have been stringent action earlier in specific areas to prevent the spread – because once it spreads then we sit with the problems we have currently,” said Van der Rheede.
The ban will be declared in the Government Gazette, and any disregard for it will be regarded as a criminal offence.