Pretoria – Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza has taken the decision to remove the countrywide ban on the movement of cattle, after a 21-day restriction.
Last month, spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo announced that Didiza had taken the decision to suspend all movement of cattle in the country in a bid to halt the spread of foot and mouth disease.
On Thursday, Ngcobo said the decision to remove the ban was based on the work done by the state veterinary services, private vets and animal health technicians in the past 21 days.
“The co-operation of traditional leaders, communities and the police assisted in limiting the spread. It is encouraging that the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Northern Cape provinces have not had a single case before and during the 21 days,” said Ngcobo.
In Gauteng and North West there had been suspected cases around quarantined farms. In Mpumalanga no new cases were picked up in past week.
“In Limpopo we will retain the disease management area in the protected zone and around. In Free State our disease management area will cover those areas where no improvement has been observed, such as Marquad, Viljoen Skroon and Harrismith,” said Ngcobo.
In KwaZulu-Natal, he said the disease management area would be retained in KwaNongoma, Ulundi, KwaHlabisa, eHluhluwe and eMtubatuba.
“In an effort to limit the negative effects of the disease as much as possible, the minister has taken the decision to repeal the control measures relating to foot and mouth disease as prescribed in the Government Notice No 2075 of 10 May 2022 and Government Notice No 2391 of 18 August 2022, and allow movements under certain conditions in the rest of the country except the new disease management areas in Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and Free State,” said Ngcobo.
“All movements must be accompanied by the owner’s declaration; recipient undertaking to isolate the animals for at least 28 days before introducing them to the main herd; and all stock theft documents.”
Didiza said her department would continue with surveillance and vaccination in the areas that still had active infections.
“We call upon farmers and communities to observe the health protocols that have been put in place and refrain from illegal movement of cattle or animals,” she said.
“Once again I call for improvement in the primary animal health care and the strengthening of biosecurity measures by all farmers, feedlots and auctioneers.”
Last month, Louw van Reenen, the spokesperson for the Red Meat and Livestock Primary Cluster and chief executive of the Beefmaster Group, expressed concern about the impact on the supply chain in the meat and livestock industry if the ban on the movement of cattle was extended beyond the 21-day limit imposed by Didiza.
“The longer the ban continues, the more risk it carries to all who operate in the sector. We are hopeful that the disease is brought under control within the three-week period to avoid any negative fallout,” said Van Reenen, adding that everyone was impacted by the restrictions, including meat processing facilities, who, together with the feedlots, were not allowed to buy cattle for stock purposes.
However, he said the manner in which industry and the government had co-operated on the issue in the past week served as a great example of what was possible in the future.
The cluster said the South African government’s announcement of the temporary suspension was necessary, albeit a case of too little, too late.
IOL