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Parliament, Wednesday, 4 March 2026 – The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture received an update yesterday from the Department of Agriculture on the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak and interventions to control the spread of the disease.
The committee also received a briefing on the 2025/26 Q1 and Q2 performance and expenditure reports and progress on the implementation of audit improvement plans on the part of the department and Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP).
The committee heard from the department that outbreaks are increasing in all provinces. Currently there are 935 outbreaks countrywide with the highest concentration of outbreaks in the Free State, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. The committee also heard that Lesotho has reported two cases of FMD.
The committee Chairperson, Ms Dina Pule, requested the department to implement a nationwide awareness campaign for both communal and commercial farmers. This campaign is necessary to educate communities on the spread and containment of the disease.
FMD has been declared a national disaster and government will mobilise all its resources to deal with the outbreak. Whilst the outbreak requires 14 million cattle to be vaccinated, the Minister of Agriculture, Mr John Steenhuisen, reported that the department received a batch of vaccines last Saturday and by Wednesday they were delivered to the provinces.
The department also reported that never again must the department be reliant on a single service provider. In addition, as the vaccines are effective against different strains of the disease, the department warned farmers against buying vaccines from other sources as they may be ineffective against the strain infecting cattle in South Africa.
The committee raised its concerns about storage capacity for the incoming vaccines. The department responded that the vaccines arrive is South Africa and are stored in the OBP facility and are distributed from there to ensure safe storage.
Ms Pule said that the committee is satisfied with the department’s briefing and the rollout of the vaccines. Since the President declared FMD a national disaster, the committee has requested weekly briefings from the department.
For the past year, KwaZulu-Natal has been the epicentre of the breakout. However, at present the Free State is the epicentre of the disease with 277 outbreaks, while KwaZulu-Natal has 202. The committee will be visiting the Free State province to conduct oversight on the management of the outbreak.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, MS DINA PULE.
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E-mail: sugovender@parliament.gov.za
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