MANZINI – Eswatini’s Government veterinary officers are freely allowed to go into private farms and vaccinate cattle against the foot-and-mouth disease, despite the fact that this is a contentious issue in South Africa.
SA’s Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen was taken to court recently by farmers, who were against the neighbouring government’s stance of disallowing them to vaccinate their own cattle.
On Monday, the Pretoria High Court granted an order allowing the private procurement and administration of FMD vaccines. Minister Steenhuisen was also interdicted from interfering in the private commercial relations of those who lawfully import FMD vaccines into South Africa. This was said to be a victory for Sakeliga, the Southern African Agri Initiative (SAAI) and Free State Agriculture, who fought for the rights of owners and managers of cloven-hooved livestock to protect their cattle.
Eswatini cattle breeders in private ranches said yesterday that this is not an issue for the local industry.
“Government vet officers arrive at the farms to vaccinate at certain appointed times. We are always in communication with them on when to come and we also give them the number of cattle they will vaccinate, said a farmer, Mxolisi Mdluli.
Asked if they are not inconvenienced by delays, as government sometimes does not have adequate staffing, he said this was not the case.
“If we spot cattle that have symptoms, we call them quickly and they arrive to ascertain if it is the FMD,” he said.
The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Sydney Simelane, said it is true that locally, farmers allow government vet officers into their farms to do the vaccination process.
He said without the help of the ministry, the farmers would not even know the variant of the FMD disease they are dealing with.
Asked if they would allow farmers to purchase their own vaccines, he said they prefer that it is the ministry that supervises this because of the technical nature of the process.
“For that process, we do not allow them to purchase the medicines on their own because they do not know the variant and efficacy of the disease. We must ensure that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) standards are observed at all costs,” he said.
On another note, the PS said government has vaccinated 350 000 out of about 580-600 000 cattle.
He said his ministry will now sit with veterinary officers and determine if there are still new cases or the country has reached herd immunity before continuing with the vaccination process.
Worth noting is that Eswatini is dealing with a severe, ongoing FMD crisis, featuring concurrent outbreaks of two circulating serotypes, SAT1 and SAT2. The disease has spread across multiple regions, severely impacting the country’s livestock industry, meat exports and rural livelihoods.
In South Africa, the issue before the court was not whether government can vaccinate livestock, as it continues vaccinating animals as part of its disease-control strategy.
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Minister for Agriculture Mandla Tshawuka during a recent foot-and-mouth disease vaccination drive. (Courtesy pic)