Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is threatening the livelihoods of communal farmers throughout rural South Africa, with many unable to take their livestock to auction until their cattle have been vaccinated.
President Cyril Ramaphosa declared FMD, a contagious viral ailment, a national disaster in February.
The present mass FMD vaccination strategy is yielding positive results and protecting the national herd, agriculture minister John Steenhuisen said on April 15. But communal farmers living on small margins say they cannot afford the delays before the national response reaches them.
Statistics South Africa data shows that 50% of the about 14-million cattle in the national herd belong to emerging and communal farmers.
“From November last year, we had to cancel the 27 mobile auctions we normally hold for communal farmers associations in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal,” said Sarah Frazee, CEO of Meat Naturally Africa (MN).
“From December 2025 to March 2026, we could hold only six direct sales to MN of vet-checked, slaughter-ready cattle, from which the communal farmers collectively earned R1.6m, compared to the more than R20m they would have earned during the same period from our 27 mobile auctions.”
The department of agriculture has denied accusations that it has unlawfully blocked the private sector from independently procuring and administering vaccines for the outbreak.
MN brings mobile auctions to deep rural areas, where participating communal farmers are involved in regenerative rangeland management programmes. Without these mobile facilities, farmers must walk their cattle and sheep to the nearest auction, often taking several days.
MN works with 180 communal farmer associations, spanning more than 580,000ha from Komani in the Eastern Cape to Ulundi in KwaZulu-Natal. It also works in the buffer zone of the Kruger National Park and recently expanded into the Free State.
“With FMD, we had to stop all our auctions in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape from November last year, as did all the other livestock auction houses,“ Frazee said. “Communal farmers critically need the vaccine as this is the peak auction time for them. They need to sell before winter sets in and the animals start losing condition. We urgently need state support to target the distribution of vaccines to the communities.”
On April 14, Frazee attended a meeting in Durban held by the MEC for agriculture and attended by all the livestock auction houses operating in KwaZulu-Natal.
With FMD, we had to stop all our auctions in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape from November last year, as did all the other livestock auction houses. Communal farmers critically need the vaccine as this is the peak auction time for them.
— Sarah Frazee, CEO of Meat Naturally Africa
“It came as some relief when they informed us they are prioritising the KwaZulu-Natal districts in which we work, with vaccinations to be completed before the end of June. We will plan our auction schedule to align with this, starting in late April in the Kokstad area,” she said.
“We do not yet have a schedule for communal areas in the Eastern Cape. In the Free State, where we recently expanded, we are working well with the state vets who are prioritising the vaccination of communal herds. We are hoping to hold mobile auctions there from November this year.”
MN leads a project launched in January 2025 with the support of the WWF Nedbank Green Trust, which works with 180 communal farmers’ associations predominantly in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. It includes outreach programmes that promote participation in mobile auctions and mobile wool shearing, as well as regenerative grazing and fire management.
“It’s about rewarding communal farmer associations that are committed to restoring degraded grazing lands through regenerative grazing systems, water conservation, wildfire prevention and the management of invasive alien plants,” said Poovi Pillay, head of the social impact unit at Nedbank.
“The importance of this project is highlighted by the fact that an estimated 90% of South Africa’s rangelands are degraded. In many of our communally managed grasslands, poor land and livestock management threatens livelihoods and biodiversity and degrades strategic water catchments.”
For fire management, the project incentivises female sheep farmers to become champions of wildfire prevention in their areas by providing training.
“In 2026, those with the best records in reducing wildfires will be rewarded with quality sheep to improve their flocks. Women make up 40% of the clients in MN’s Fleece Naturally initiative and our goal is to help them produce better-quality sheep and wool,” Frazee said.
Wildfires are often ignited by improperly extinguished cooking fires and children playing with fire, leading to the destruction of homes and rangelands and resulting in the loss of livestock, wildlife and human life.
In the buffer zone of Kruger National Park, MN has entered into a partnership with Sibuyi Abattoir, which distributes poultry to about 30 lodges in the area.
Local people can buy beef directly from the MN abattoir and sell it in their own communities through spaza shops equipped with freezers.
“This initiative helps to create a circular economy that benefits communities by retaining financial resources within their area, linking stewardship actions on rangelands to livelihoods and enhancing food security,” Frazee said.
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