The cost of racial targets becomes clear when a mere 13 000 vaccines for 15 million cattle gets government jumping for joy

Image: courtesy of FF Plus

If anything underscores the inadequacy of government's response to the foot-and-mouth disease crisis, it is last week’s proud announcement that the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) was able to provide 12 900 doses of vaccine.

It was not always like this. Until 2010, there was no question about it: the country had the capacity to successfully curb any incidence of this notorious disease.

The ARC’s Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute (OVI) securely stored the necessary materials and continuously researched the disease. Any possible incidence of the disease could be confirmed within days, and action would be taken immediately.

Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) would immediately prioritise large-scale production of vaccines. Law-enforcement agencies would collaborate with rural communities to ensure that no animal is moved out of the affected areas.

This entire system collapsed, much like bankruptcy: first gradually, then suddenly.

Movement control was the first victim of the post-1994 dispensation. The commandos, which maintained rural security, were abolished first. Climbing crime levels was the first consequence. The inability to enforce quarantine regulations become evident later.

Onderstepoort was always the heartbeat of South Africa’s animal health. It began in 1896 with the devastating rinderpest, which nearly wiped out the entire South African cattle herd. 

President Paul Kruger responded by appointing the brilliant Swiss immigrant, Dr Arnold Theiler, as state veterinarian. He was given a laboratory and a small staff to carry out his task, initially at Daspoort.

In 1908 the facilities moved to Onderstepoort, about 10 km north of Church Square. Training veterinarians, in collaboration with the University of Pretoria (UP), was part of its mandate.

Theiler and his staff, as well as their successors, excelled in identifying, investigating and combating tropical diseases in Africa. Thanks to their work, livestock farming in South Africa and across Africa became less erratic.

This paved the way for exports, as international consumers were assured of the safety of animals and animal products.

In the 1970s, research and training were formally separated, although close collaboration remained the order of the day. A Faculty of Veterinary Science was also established at Medunsa, not far from there, to train black veterinarians.

Consequently, infectious livestock diseases had largely been brought under control by the 1980s. Traditional areas where livestock were managed on communal land and in communal herds were covered by the finer veterinary safety net.

After 1994, demographic considerations gained increasing importance in the state’s veterinary services, and UP and Medunsa’s faculties merged.

In 2020, Prof. Gerry Swan, who later served as the dean of the new faculty, referred to this process spanning years as "tumultuous".  

While facilities tasked with protecting livestock against potentially devastating diseases declined, the focus shifted to “transformation” and institutional change.

OBP was incorporated as a state-owned enterprise in 1999 to separate it from the research conducted by the ARC. The assumption that this would increase efficiency did not materialise. By 2011, South Africa had already lost the capacity to manufacture several vaccines, including those against foot-and-mouth disease.

As is usually the case during the earliest stages of any emerging crisis, there were people who saw it coming. So, around R500 million was earmarked in 2010 to bring facilities up to standard with international best practices.

As part of the project, expensive equipment was procured from abroad, but it turned out that the dedicated building did not meet requirements. The equipment ended up in the corridors and storerooms of other buildings. What eventually became of it and whether it is still serviceable is not clear. OVI, at least, still had the capacity to store a small number of vaccines and manage minor outbreaks.

Ministerial task teams warned in 2016, 2019 and, importantly, in 2024 of an impending foot-and-mouth disease crisis that the state would not be able to control.

The principle of a state-controlled disease is, after all, that the state – and only the state – possesses the physical, financial, logistical and human resources to address it effectively.

The message from the task teams was clear: the state no longer had the resources and needed to act urgently to restore capacity. It did not happen, though.

By April 2025, foot-and-mouth disease was already a serious problem in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal.

In April 2025, the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) asked, in a parliamentary question, the Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology, Dr Blade Nzimande, about the extent of the crisis and the Department’s ability to assist the affected agricultural sector. 

The answer was that the cattle herd stood at an estimated 14 million and that 12 million cattle would need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. An initial vaccination and two follow-ups would cost R3 billion.  

The Minister indicated that South Africa does not have the necessary funds. So, to address the crisis, the disease would need to be effectively contained before widespread vaccination became necessary. In addition, restoring South African manufacturing capacity would reduce the cost per dose to about 10 percent of the imported product.

The response from the Minister of Agriculture, Mr John Steenhuisen, also in April 2025, showed no sign of urgency or even that he understood the scale of the impending crisis. 

In a parliamentary debate on the Department of Agriculture’s budget in May 2025, the Freedom Front Plus labelled foot-and-mouth disease a disaster that was "one hundred percent preventable".

The problem is people. The virus will always be with us, but it is people who must manage it.

The racial targets that the ANC imposed on every area meant that competence to handle this kind of challenge was no longer the decisive factor in appointing senior personnel.

The problem is not that the senior personnel are black. The problem is that the focus is on the wrong thing. While foot-and-mouth disease is wreaking havoc, the Department is solely focused on meeting transformation targets.

So, joyfully announcing that the ARC manufactured 12 900 doses of vaccine last week is inappropriate. Claiming that this is the result of 21 years of research glosses over the truth that the ability to manufacture vaccines already existed 16 years ago.

If the Minister, John Steenhuisen, had wanted to take timely and decisive action, he would have blamed thirty years of incompetent governance. Instead, he is merely boasting that 12 900 doses are available three months ahead of schedule.

There is no indication that the Minister, in the nearly two years he has been in office, has instituted steps against incompetent personnel responsible for the crisis.

No special funding has been secured, no projects were expedited as an emergency measure, no other department or state institution (such as the CSIR) has been called in to assist on an emergency basis.

The outcome is fewer than fourteen thousand vaccines for a national herd of more than fourteen million – and this is proudly announced! It demonstrates a profound lack of comprehension.