By Andrew Ardington, cattle farmer and head of RegenSA
On 30 May 2025 the Karan Beef feedlot at Heidelberg discovered it had a case of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). This feedlot, at 2 330 hectares and 120 000 cattle, is the largest feedlot in the world. It operates at the highest levels of biosecurity. Yet despite this they have joined the ranks and become the country’s latest FMD victim. It probably didn’t enter the minds of the Karan Beef senior management at the time, but for Gauteng Province May 2025 ended how it started. On 1 May the Gauteng Veterinary Department sent out a letter informing all about an FMD outbreak in the Mogale City District.
These Gauteng cases are not alone this May. On 10 May it was reported that infected animals from KwaZulu-Natal had brought FMD into Mpumalanga. These animals came from parts of KZN that are outside the FMD infected zones, from earlier leaks. KwaZulu-Natal’s FMD biosecurity has been regularly compromised since this outbreak began in 2021, and not just KZN. For South Africa this follows closely on the back of the 2012 and 2019 outbreaks, but the staggering scale of the lack of control is different this time. Each time this happens it costs the economy billions. The latest Mpumalanga incident resulted in China suspending the “imports of cloven-hoofed animals and related products”.
Of course, the appropriate authorities have issued all the appropriate warnings. Various provincial veterinary departments have been furiously penning letters over the last many years. I have come to referring to these now regular letters as “naughty boy letters” because that seems to be the extent of the consequences handed down to those who have illegally moved FMD livestock. A good old fashioned naughty boy, public dressing down, but now without even the embarrassment of your name being mentioned in the letter. My question to the authorities – the Veterinary Departments, the Department of Agriculture and the Police – is when are these naughty boys going to be upgraded to the men they are and be treated like the adult criminals they are? Criminals who cost the country billions each year!
Now I might be wrong and all the above-mentioned government agencies might have been diligently getting all the ducks in a row. The charges and prosecutions that are going to bring FMD back under control in South Africa are ready to roll. The people who have been involved in moving and selling those FMD animals are about to be charged and prosecuted. Or better still have already been prosecuted and are serving time. If this is the case I apologise, my defence being that it didn’t make the news. As things stand, Google, AI and I have failed to find one mention of any prosecution for any crime related to the FMD 2021 outbreaks. An article from 2019 laments the same lack of action about that outbreak.
If these charges and prosecutions ever do happen, they certainly should make the news. These are crimes that need to be fought in the media as well as in the legal system. All players along the beef food chain should know where they stand, what they stand to lose. Future would-be perpetrators, who cost the country so dearly with each outbreak, should be thinking twice about their next smuggling activity.
No doubt this high-profile Karan Beef case will breathe new life into those who believe every animal in the country being electronically identifiable is the solution. For every scattered cow, sheep and goat to be sporting expensive ear tags paid for by the farmers. In April the Department of Agriculture issued a proposed amendment to the Animal Improvement Act legislation along these lines. If this were to become law, it would conservatively cost livestock owners about R700 million to implement. A handsome sum for the bottom of the red meat pyramid to have to absorb. One of the many problems with this proposed amendment is just because the livestock have digital ear tags does not mean that FMD crimes are suddenly going to stop. For the farmers it would be a big price to pay for no change in their prospects.
With the current state of enforcement and prosecution it matters little what new laws relating to FMD, or biosecurity in general, are passed. If there is no enforcement of the FMD laws when people break them, then no number of new laws, nor digital ear wear, are going to make any difference at all. The outbreaks will continue; the number of countries that still buy beef from us will continue to shrink; domestic trade will continue to be regularly interrupted; beef food chain businesses, that are already under stress, will be placed under even more pressure; and any ideas around rural development can be added the “never to be implemented” pile.
Make no mistake, the problem is a dereliction of duty; not a lack of legislation or technology.
Sources:
- https://www.gov.za/news/media-statements/agriculture-foot-and-mouth-disease-outbreak-confirmed-mpumalanga-10-may-2025
- https://iol.co.za/business-report/economy/2025-05-12-outbreak-of-foot-and-mouth-disease-spreads-from-kzn-to-mpumalanga-and-gauteng/
- https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/358/198318.html
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