By Tara Roos
The department of agriculture has adopted a new policy direction on foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), designating South Africa’s national strategy as “FMD-free with vaccination” and mandating phased implementation across high-risk provinces from February 2026.
Announced by agriculture minister John Steenhuisen after a bosberaad in July, the move marks a shift from containment through movement restrictions to a vaccination-based framework aligned with the World Organisation for Animal Health’s progressive control pathway.
Its purpose is to restore confidence in export markets, stabilise the R80bn livestock industry and embed biosecurity as a statutory obligation under the Animal Diseases Act of 1984.
Steenhuisen confirmed that close to 950,000 animals have already been vaccinated using government‑procured stock and that the Botswana Vaccine Institute will supply 1‑million doses a month from January 2026.
The Agricultural Research Council is mandated to expand domestic manufacturing capacity, with a mid‑scale facility expected to produce 150,000 to 200,000 doses by mid‑2026/27.
“South Africa now has a realistic and technically sound roadmap to realise its goal of FMD‑free status with vaccination, a crucial step for restoring confidence in export markets and stabilising this R80bn livestock industry,” Steenhuisen said.
He emphasised that the plan requires strict adherence to animal movement laws and co-operation from industry stakeholders.
Administratively, the ministerial advisory task team on animal disease prevention & control has been tasked with finalising a section 10 scheme under the Animal Diseases Act to regulate vaccination in the dairy and feedlot sectors.
The Livestock Identification & Traceability System, developed by the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research, will be implemented in January to track vaccinated animals through geolocation.
Law‑enforcement agencies, including the police, will be briefed in the third week of January to enforce compliance, while unemployed animal‑health graduates will be trained and deployed to support the vaccination programme.
Regulations governing emergency importation of vaccines, quarantine measures and branding of animals are under review, with provision for an incentivised post‑vaccination branding system.
By redirecting unspent allocations from the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP) to biosecurity and earmarking 5% of future CASP funding for FMD control, the department has embedded disease management within the fiscal framework of agricultural support.
This constitutes a reprioritisation of public expenditure, requiring sustained parliamentary oversight. The designation of abattoirs and feedlots for controlled slaughter of FMD‑positive or vaccinated cattle in seven provinces further illustrates the administrative reach of the policy, with direct consequences for provincial departments and veterinary authorities.
The current disease status underscores the urgency of the intervention. FMD remains active in KwaZulu‑Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West, Free State, Limpopo and the Western Cape, with KwaZulu‑Natal identified as the epicentre.
Outbreaks have spread from communal dip tanks to commercial beef and dairy herds, and wildlife reservoirs in game reserves complicate eradication. Steenhuisen conceded: “Achieving FMD freedom with vaccination is a monumental task that requires sustained effort over many years. We are under no illusion; we have a long road ahead.”
Industry scepticism remains intact as farmers and veterinarians argue that without regulatory reform to permit private laboratories to produce vaccines under state supervision, South Africa will continue to rely on limited imports and ad hoc consignments, leaving the national herd exposed.
Previously, veterinarians and farmers told Business Day that the government’s assurances of a “mass vaccination” programme were misleading, given the size of the national herd and limited vaccine supplies, fuelling doubts about the plan’s feasibility.
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