ActionSA has questioned the credibility of the government’s foot-and-mouth disease response, warning that a lack of vaccine capacity, accountability and farmer support is placing South Africa’s livestock sector at risk.

By Lebogang Mashala, editor at African Farming 

ActionSA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip has strongly questioned what he described as the “so-called” proactive vaccination strategy announced last week by Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen to combat foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), warning that the plan lacks credibility, capacity and accountability. 

Trollip said the Minister failed to answer a direct question he posed during the media briefing on the strengthened national FMD response. 

Questions Over Vaccine Production Capacity

During the briefing, Trollip asked how a proactive vaccination campaign could succeed when the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) – the institutions responsible for vaccine production – have lost the ability to manufacture sufficient vaccines due to what he described as “chronic mismanagement and infrastructural decay”.

“You have acknowledged that vaccination is not a silver bullet and that outbreaks are underreported due to stigma and economic consequences. Given that ARC and OBP have failed so dismally, how can these same institutions now be trusted to lead a proactive vaccination campaign? Are they capable of doing so?” Trollip asked.

Instead of answering the question, Steenhuisen remarked that it was “highly unusual” for a member of parliament and a member of the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture to ask questions at a press briefing, suggesting that parliamentary channels should be used instead. 

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Oversight Role of Parliament Defended

Trollip rejected this response, saying the minister had chosen to brief the media without first briefing the Portfolio Committee.

“It is precisely for this reason that I attended, to obtain first-hand information in order to fulfil my constitutional oversight responsibilities,” he said.

“Parliament has a critical role in holding the executive to account, and in extraordinary circumstances such as a national disease outbreak, extraordinary oversight is not only justified but necessary.” 

Drawing parallels with the Covid-19 pandemic, Trollip warned against uncritical acceptance of government assurances during disease outbreaks.

“As a country, we should have learnt that this can have devastating economic, social and psychological consequences.”

Delayed Response to a Long-Running Outbreak

Trollip also pointed out that the current FMD outbreak began in 2021, yet only now has the country seen an intensified response.

“What is even more concerning is that the same institutions that demonstrably failed to safeguard livestock biosecurity remain at the epicentre of the response.” 

Of particular concern, he added, is the minister’s continued silence on an investigative report into the disappearance or improper accounting of approximately R500 million at OBP, funds intended to upgrade vaccine production facilities to meet good manufacturing practice standards.

“This failure lies at the heart of South Africa’s vaccine shortage and fundamentally undermines confidence in the current strategy,” Trollip said. 

Farmers Bearing the Cost of State Failure

Engagements with farmers and industry stakeholders have confirmed that the department lacks the capacity to manage the scale and consequences of the outbreak, according to Trollip. While welcoming Steenhuisen’s acknowledgement that collaboration across the sector is essential, he said “acknowledgement alone is insufficient”.

He also criticised the minister’s evasion of questions related to farmer compensation.

“Foot-and-mouth disease is a state-controlled disease. If the state fails to control it, farmers cannot be expected to bear the full economic burden alone.”

Trollip noted that even the department’s own head of biosecurity, Dr Emily Mogajane, has acknowledged that failure to act swiftly allows the disease to spread. 

“The department’s heavy reliance on livestock movement controls, in the absence of compensation for production losses, livestock deaths and the loss of irreplaceable genetic material, is fundamentally flawed.”

He warned that red zones effectively impose zero income on farmers, distort prices, and place both farming operations and farm workers at risk.

“Faced with these realities, farmers will inevitably move livestock in order to survive.”

Also read: From crisis to prevention: New Proudly SA disinfectant proven to kill FMD virus

Call for Public-Private Collaboration and Reform

ActionSA has called for urgent and genuine public–private collaboration in research, vaccine production and vaccination programmes. Trollip warned that bureaucratic gatekeeping and rigid adherence to outdated legislation would only worsen the crisis.

“The department simply does not possess the human or technological capacity to manage this outbreak alone,” he said, adding that legislative and regulatory reform was urgently required. 

‘You Cannot Fight a War Without Ammunition’

The availability of effective vaccines for high-risk and disease-prevalent areas remains deeply concerning.

“To borrow the minister’s own metaphor of ’waging a war’ on FMD, you cannot fight a war without ammunition, nor without the capacity to deploy it effectively,” Trollip said.

He also raised alarm over revelations that ARC, OBP and the department have failed to regularly submit FMD samples to recognised reference institutions.

“The minister’s acknowledgement that he has only now instructed that strains be prepared and sent raises serious questions about the competence and seriousness of the response to date.

“This outbreak has escalated into a national crisis.”