There is joy and immense relief for livestock owners and their value chain in KwaZulu-Natal. Early on Friday morning, 15 May, John Steenhuisen, the Minister of Agriculture, gazetted the official immediate lifting of the controversial foot-and-mouth disease management area (FMD DMA) in the north of this province.
By Lloyd Phillips, senior journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad
Text: Many critics have long argued that this FMD DMA that the state first implemented in early 2021 and gradually expanded to eventually encompass about four million hectares was overly restrictive on and prejudicial to untold thousands of livestock owners within it.
Estimates are that the DMA’s restrictions on livestock trade caused losses running into billions of rands.
Also, although the DMA was ostensibly intended to prevent the spread of FMD beyond its borders into the rest of KwaZulu-Natal and possibly the rest of South Africa, the country’s current FMD epidemic confirms that this intention failed long ago. Yet, the state kept the DMA and its controls in place until 15 May 2026.
“While it has taken longer than it should have, this outcome reflects the sustained pressure applied by the KwaZulu-Natal Agricultural Union [Kwanalu] to ensure that the realities facing producers were acknowledged and acted upon. We welcome this as a necessary step toward sector recovery,” says Peter-John Hassard, president of Kwanalu and a beef and game producer within the DMA.
“Livestock owners must remain cautious. The conditions currently mean that we are not returning to a pre-FMD environment. Compliance and responsible management will remain essential as the sector moves forward.”
Also read: FMD | Relief for KZN farmers as restrictions are lifted
Normal Trading Again
Angus Williamson, chairperson of the Red Meat Producers’ Organisation (RPO) in KwaZulu-Natal, says the province’s FMD DMA was eventually just a costly exercise for livestock owners within it regarding enhanced biosecurity requirements and lost market opportunities.
“We’re very happy with this decision. I take it that we can now go back to the normal way of trade, which is what the RPO and other organised agriculture bodies have long been striving for.”
The many owners of small herds of livestock within the FMD DMA were often financially prejudiced the most. They were largely prohibited from legally trading one or two animals at a time to earn much-needed income for essential household expenses including food, clothing and school fees.
It has long been suspected that out of desperation, some of these livestock owners may have illegally moved animals out of KwaZulu-Natal’s FMD DMA for sale elsewhere. This may well have contributed to the spread of this disease beyond the DMA’s borders.
“Lifting the DMA is really good news because all livestock owners in KwaZulu-Natal can get back to legally earning money from their animals,” says Nkanyiso Hadebe, spokesperson for the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa (AFASA) in this province.
“I think, though, that the government will need to help many of them that were badly affected by the DMA to get back on their feet.”
Also read: FMD | Another 2 million doses of vaccine arrive while ‘cows don’t carry passports’
Sale Yards have FMD Protocols
Sandra Berning, chairperson of the Milk Producers’ Organisation (MPO) in KwaZulu-Natal, is also relieved for her province’s entire livestock sector.
She too urges livestock owners to remain cautious regarding the ongoing threat from FMD, and to adhere to all other regulations surrounding it.
“Remember that sale yards will still do their requirements, such as checking the animals for symptoms, that they’re vaccinated and that there is traceability for them.
“There’s still uncertainty surrounding the recent announcement by the MEC (for Agriculture and Rural Development in KwaZulu-Natal, Thembeni kaMadlopha-Mthethwa], before the lifting of the DMA was gazetted, that her department has implemented new movement controls for livestock in our province.”
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FMD will only be eradicated through mass vaccination in 6-8 week time period
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