Ramaphosa responds to FMD ‘pandemic’, but centralised response a failure – critics

2026-02-13 - 05:36

President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) crisis a national disaster, but critics say a centralised response will be inefficient. FMD has now spread to all provinces, with the Western and Northern Capes the latest to implement quarantine measures at affected farms this week. The president confirmed his administration’s response during his ninth State of the Nation Address on Thursday evening. Vaccination of 38 000 animals per day Ramaphosa admitted that the current FMD crisis was among the worst outbreaks of the disease the country had experienced. “We have classified FMD as a national disaster and will be mobilising all necessary capabilities within the state to deal with this crisis. “I have established a task team made up of farmer organisations and experts, working together with the Minister of Agriculture and his department, that will report to me monthly about the progress we are making in dealing with this pandemic,” said Ramaphosa. The president reiterated the plan to vaccinate 14 million cattle over the next 12 months, using 28 million doses of vaccine. To do so, he said, private-sector role-players will assist in getting vaccines to commercial, private and communal farmers. For Ramaphosa to meet his proposed target, the government would need to vaccinate 38 350 animals per day for the next year. ‘Sow even further devastation’ The president said that the government would “facilitate the acquisition” of vaccines, with earlier reports stating that Onderstepoort will produce 20 000 per day by March to supplement internationally procured stock. AfriForum stated on Thursday night that Ramaphosa’s confirmation of the plan was a failure of farmers and consumers of meat. The civil society group stated that persistence with a centralised response will not adequately contain the disease. “The country now needs decentralisation and privatisation, but the President is still persisting with a failed policy of centralisation – a policy that sits behind the problems in almost every area of ​​society,” stated AfriForum spokesperson Jacques Broodryk. “With the central purchases of vaccines, the government is blindly continuing on its path of destruction and is thereby complicit in the extensive crisis that is raging due to FMD and will now sow even further devastation,” he added. Vaccine existed for years The agriculture department earlier this week released a prominent member of the FMD task team due to comments he made about the government’s vaccine programme. Dr Danie Odendaal told Farmers Weekly that a vaccine had been developed as early as 2010 and was registered in 2022, yet never mass-produced. “The fact is that they had this registered formulation and never contracted it out to be manufactured while the disease was still at an early stage and could have been stopped with ample effective vaccines,” said Odendaal. The department axed Odendaal from the task team due to breaches of its Impartiality and Confidentiality Declaration. Red Meat Industry Services state that FMD affects cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and limited wild game. It causes reduced appetite, fever, and painful blistering on the hooves, teats, mouth, and tongue of affected animals, leading to lameness, weight loss, and reduced milk production. Farmers are subject to trade bans, which may lead to livestock culling, resulting in financial losses and higher prices for consumers. NOW READ: Outcry as Steenhuisen fires foot-and-mouth disease expert