{"id":27564,"date":"2026-03-03T11:21:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T09:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=27564"},"modified":"2026-03-03T11:21:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T09:21:29","slug":"farmers-in-sa-take-government-to-court-over-fmd-vaccines-restrictions","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/farmers-in-sa-take-government-to-court-over-fmd-vaccines-restrictions\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmers in SA take government to court over FMD vaccines\u2019 restrictions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Southern African Agri Initiative (SAAI), and the Free State Agriculture and Independent Business Organisation, Sakeliga, will approach the High Court in Pretoria for an urgent interdict against the Agriculture Department, Minister John Steenhuisen and the Animal Health Director Doctor Mpho Maja.<\/p>\n<p>The organisations want Steenhuisen\u2019s decisions relating to the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccines formally reviewed and set aside on the grounds that they are unlawful, irrational, and unconstitutional.<\/p>\n<p>SAAI Chief Executive Officer Francois Rossouw says they want to import vaccines privately and be allowed to vaccinate their animals.<\/p>\n<p>Rossouw says, \u201cWe are asking for an interim interdict to stop the state from blocking farmers and the private sector from acting in parallel against foot and mouth disease.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile the minister acknowledges the outbreak is out of control and the national disaster has been declared, private vaccine imports and farmers\u2019 ability to lawfully vaccinate their own herds are being obstructed, he adds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe say these measures are unlawful, irrational and unconstitutional. Farmers are asking for the right to protect animals and livelihoods before irreparable damage is done, Rossouw says.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2014SABC\u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22315,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-27564","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"SAAI Chief Executive Officer Francois Rossouw says they want to import vaccines privately.","published_date":"","news_description":"SAAI Chief Executive Officer Francois Rossouw says they want to import vaccines privately.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/27564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/27564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27565,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/27564\/revisions\/27565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=27564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}