The Democratic Alliance (DA) Limpopo Spokesperson on Agriculture, Jacques Smalle says although they welcome the lifting of the ban on livestock auctions following a foot and mouth disease outbreak in November last year. They are however not satisfied with the management and monitoring of the disease.
Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza on Monday announced a lift on the ban on livestock sales.
The ban affected four provinces namely Limpopo, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North West.
Smalle says they fear the recurring of the outbreak if the Agriculture Department doesn’t improve the monitoring of animals in the foot and mouth disease zones.
“We remain concerned by the failure to address the major challenges that led to the outbreak of the foot and mouth and this is due to the inability by the Department to fully address the quarantine areas…What we don’t want to see is a reoccurrence of the outbreak in the free zone area of Limpopo province.”
According to Smalle, red meat producers still cannot export to the Southern African Development (SADC) region.
“Although the ban has been lifted for auctions we still cannot export our red meat into the SADC region. They are not welcoming the measures that have been put in place by the government at this given stage and they do not feel secure enough that the red meat industry is safe at this current stage,” adds Smalle.
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