Speaking in Swartkopfontein in North West Province on Tuesday, near the SA and Botswana border, Steenhuisen said the Department of Agriculture is working closely with its regional counterparts to develop a unified response across southern Africa.
Steenhuisen and Botswana’s Acting Minister of Agriculture, Onnetse Ramogapi, jointly led the department’s fifth nationwide mass vaccination campaign in the area. The campaign targets high‑risk zones where communal livestock farming is widespread and cross‑border animal movement is difficult to control. Farmers in the North West have expressed concern that communal herds are particularly vulnerable to the spread of foot‑and‑mouth disease, given porous borders and limited biosecurity infrastructure in rural areas.
Both SA and Botswana authorities stressed that stronger coordination and shared strategies are critical to preventing further outbreaks. “We do need to work together if we are going to combat foot‑and‑mouth disease in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region,” Steenhuisen said. “We will be convening a SADC foot‑and‑mouth disease meeting in the coming weeks.”
He said the planned meeting would bring together affected countries to agree on a common approach to prevention, control and rapid response. “One of the key discussions will be how we develop a regional vaccine bank,” he explained. “It must not matter where the outbreak occurs. We need to ensure vaccines are available and can be deployed quickly.”
–SABC/ChannelAfrica–
