Parliament, Friday, 27 February 2026 – The Select Committee on Agriculture Land Reform and Mineral Resources will attend a workshop on foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) this weekend with all nine provincial legislatures.
The workshop is hosted by the Gauteng Legislature. Committee Chairperson Mr Mpho Modise will jointly co-host the workshop with the Gauteng Legislature. The workshop will take place this weekend.
The Department of Agriculture recently briefed Parliament on the vaccination of cattle against FMD; the vaccinations are a response to the outbreak across the country. KwaZulu-Natal is the leading province in FMD cases, with the department reporting outbreaks in all provinces. The Free State is recording increases, making it the second leading province after KZN.
One million vaccine doses will be distributed across the nine provinces in outbreak areas, while plans are underway to vaccinate the country’s entire herd of over 14 million cattle.
KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State have been allocated 200,000 doses each, while North West, Mpumalanga, and Limpopo will receive 100,000 doses. The Eastern Cape has received 150,000 doses.
Mr Modise stated that the financial losses from international export bans, as well as losses in livestock, have been significant. “While we welcome the rollout of the vaccines, it must be noted that many stakeholders in the industry are frustrated by the slow pace of the government’s response to the FMD crisis. This revolves around chronic vaccine shortages, a slow government response to FMD outbreaks, and the department’s insistence on remaining the only regulator and supplier of FMD vaccine while struggling to show any ability to contain outbreaks of the disease,” said Mr Modise.
On Monday (2 March), the committee will conduct oversight at the Onderstepoort Biological Products. Currently, the OBP does not have the capacity to produce sufficient vaccines for the entire country.
Details of the workshop:
Date: 28 February–1 March 2026
Time: 10:00 am
Venue: Fourways Hotel, Randburg
Attached link to the programme of the workshop https://tinyurl.com/yyn8saxm
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, LAND REFORM AND MINERAL RESOURCES, MR MPHO 'BONES' MODISE
For media inquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact the committee’s Media Officer:
Name: Yoliswa Landu (Ms)
Cell: 081 497 4694
E-mail: ylandu@parliament.gov.za
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