PRETORIA, May 31 (NNN-SANEWS) — Intensified efforts to control and eradicate foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) are paying off, said Agriculture Minister, John Steenhuisen.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Minister said the process of procuring vaccines through Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) has started, and the next batch of vaccines are expected to be delivered by mid-June.
This as the disease management areas of two provinces is soon to be lifted and an urgent order has been placed for much-needed vaccines to the value of R72 million.
“This marks a crucial step forward in the department’s vaccination strategy. The department has provisionally costed the vaccine requirements for the 2025/2026 financial year at R1,2 billion, with each vaccine estimated at R100 per dose,” Steenhuisen said.
Recognising the seriousness of the FMD threat, the Minister said he escalated control efforts to the Deputy Director-General (DGG) for Agricultural Production, Biosecurity and Natural Resources Management, Dipepeneneng Serage, earlier this month.
“The office of the DDG has already engaged with veterinary services and various industry representatives to detail the actions required to curb the threat.”
The Minister highlighted that the lifting of the current disease management areas (DMA) in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo is imminent.
In the Eastern Cape, disease management areas covering the Kouga and Kou-Kamma Municipalities have been in place since 26 July 2024.Through a robust vaccination campaign, 144,424 vaccinations were successfully administered, and the last confirmed FMD case was reported in September 2024.
He added that extensive serological surveillance has found no further signs of infection. Steenhuisen confirmed that the movement restrictions in the Eastern Cape DMA will be lifted soon.
Similar success has been reported in the Vhembe District, Limpopo, where a DMA was declared in September 2022 to control an FMD outbreak in dip tanks in the Vhembe Municipality.
Two rounds of vaccination saw 23,024 vaccinations administered on cattle across 34 dip tanks, proving highly effective in bringing the outbreak under control.
“These positive developments highlight the effectiveness of our collaborative control measures, and the dedication of all stakeholders involved. The department remains vigilant and committed to implementing proactive strategies to safeguard animal health and the agricultural sector,” said the Minister.
The Minister reported that the DMA in KwaZulu-Natal remains in place, since there are still signs of active virus circulation in the area.
He said some outbreaks that were detected outside of the DMA were successfully contained with no sign of outward spread of the disease.
“An abattoir in the Vryheid area in the DMA is in the process of being designated to slaughter animals from premises under FMD restrictions. A system has been put in place to assess the level of biosecurity on individual farms, with the intention of aligning the control measures to the biosecurity risks,” the Minister explained.
Meanwhile, the Minister said a single outbreak was reported on a single farm in the Gert Sibande Municipality, Mpumalanga, in April 2025 which was identified as a trace forward from an auction in KwaZulu-Natal.
“Following one round of targeted surveillance of surrounding farms, there are no signs that this outbreak spread to any adjacent farms or other linked locations. The department has started with the second round of surveillance,” the Minister said.
In addition, in Gauteng, new FMD cases have been confirmed in the West Rand and East Rand.
The Minister noted that an outbreak at a feedlot and adjacent farm were found to be positive in the West Rand Municipality. Initially, the outbreak was linked to an auction in Heidelberg, however follow-up epidemiological investigation indicated a different infection source.
“Veterinary services are testing adjacent premises and linked locations to determine the origin of this outbreak and possible spread.”
Additional cases were detected in communal cattle in the East Rand in May 2025.
Samples were collected and FMD infection was confirmed. Epidemiological investigations have commenced to identify and test all adjacent and linked locations.
The Minister announced that the People’s Republic of China has suspended imports of cloven-hoofed animals and related products from South Africa due to the spread of the outbreaks in KZN to Mpumalanga and Gauteng.
“Preliminary information obtained confirmed that this suspension includes only beef from South Africa to China. The good news is that the export of wool that complies with the protocol already agreed to, has not been affected,” the Minister said. — NNN-SANEWS
