DA motion to control FMD shot down in Gauteng
· Citizen
A DA motion calling for a tougher Gauteng provincial response to foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) failed yesterday.
This, despite warnings that uncontrolled livestock movement, weak municipal biosecurity and uncertainty over vaccines are leaving local farmers exposed to a disease that continues to destroy herds, jobs and confidence in the agricultural economy.
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FMD vaccine uncertainty leaves farmers exposed
DA spokesperson on agriculture in the legislature, Bronwynn Engelbrecht, tabled the motion, and called for a publicly available vaccine distribution plan.
She also had a laundry list that included an audit of municipal commonage and livestock land, reports from municipalities on fencing and quarantine facilities, an intergovernmental task team and clearer accountability between provincial and municipal authorities.
The motion also called for the Gauteng Disaster Management Centre to play an active role and for cultural and traditional livestock practices to be supported through supervised biosecurity measures.
Engelbrecht said the outbreak was not only a veterinary crisis.
“FMD is not simply an animal health issue. It is a threat to food security, livelihoods, jobs and the agricultural economy of South Africa,” she said.
Threat to food security
Engelbrecht added the disease had to be understood through the eyes of farmers and workers who live with its consequences long after political debates have ended.
“Imagine a farmer and his team of farmworkers. For them, their livestock are more than assets. They are the result of generations of hard work, sacrifice and hope.
“I have seen footage of hundreds of beautiful young calves discarded in trenches while farmers and workers stood nearby in tears. These were not merely animals. These were animals they had helped bring into the world,” Engelbrecht said.
Movement control of livestock is not under control despite, as Engelbrecht noted, the department acknowledging the outbreak was linked to the movement of infected cattle.
“Once infected animals move through auctions, communal grazing areas, transport routes and farms, the virus moves with them,” she said.
FF Plus slam Gauteng for rejecting motion
“That is why movement control is not a bureaucratic exercise, but a front-line defence against the spread of disease. Every uncontrolled and roaming animal creates the possibility of another outbreak and another farming family facing financial ruin,” she added.
Freedom Front Plus MPL Jaco Mulder said unregulated and unregistered livestock posed a serious risk to Gauteng’s agricultural sector and weakened its disease-control system.
“Although the department of agriculture emphasises the rollout of vaccines and other control measures, the greatest challenge remains the inability to effectively monitor and verify the movement and origin of all livestock,” he said.
Mulder said animals traded or transported via informal channels created a critical weakness in the biosecurity system.
“Without proper identification and traceability, the detection of infected herds and the containment of outbreaks are almost impossible.
Control movement of livestock
“No disease control programme will succeed if authorities do not have control over the movement of livestock within the province,” he said.
He said the FF Plus-led portfolio committee on agriculture, rural development and environmental affairs would hold the Gauteng agriculture department, law enforcement agencies and agricultural community accountable, while pushing for a comprehensive livestock identification and traceability system, routine inspections and stricter enforcement of legislation.
Engelbrecht said many farmers still did not know when their animals would be vaccinated.
“A disease outbreak does not destroy only livestock, it destroys confidence, investment, jobs and eventually it threatens food security for every family in Gauteng,” she said.