AGRICULTURE NEWS - The Pretoria High Court today, Monday 25 May, ruled in favour of the business organisation, Sakeliga, and agricultural groups seeking permission for private procurement and administration of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccines during South Africa’s ongoing outbreak.
Judge Cornelius J van der Westhuizen found that the government had failed to show any valid law or regulation prohibiting private livestock owners from obtaining and administering FMD vaccines outside officially controlled areas.
The applicants argued that government was insisting on exclusive control over vaccinations despite the rapid spread of the disease and limited state capacity.
The court found that no properly gazetted prohibition existed against private vaccination.
Furthermore, the government could not rely on internal policy documents and the newly gazetted vaccination “scheme” in terms of Regulation 10 of the Animal Diseases Act did not amount to enforceable law.
The government’s argument that private vaccination would result in a lack of record-keeping and reporting by livestock owners also did not hold water as existing animal disease regulations already provide mechanisms for record-keeping and reporting by livestock owners.
Furthermore, allowing private vaccinations would assist, rather than hinder, efforts to contain FMD as government argued.
The judge found the applicants had established a prima facie right to relief, reasonable prospects of success in future declaratory or review proceedings, risk of irreparable harm if vaccination access remained restricted, and that the balance of convenience favoured the applicants.
The court granted interim relief allowing the private procurement and self-administration of lawful FMD vaccines, pending further proceedings.
The Minister of Agriculture, the Department of Agriculture and the Directorate of Animal Health - the main opposing respondents - were ordered to pay costs.
One of the applicants, Suider-Afrika Agri Inisiatief (Saai), welcomed the judgment as a victory for livestock and game farmers in South Africa.
“After more than a year of uncontrolled spread of this state-controlled disease, it finally offers hope that the involvement and initiative of the private sector can provide the critical capacity needed to stop the disease.
It said that it came too late for many who have already suffered major losses or even lost everything while waiting for the state to obtain vaccines.
“In his judgment, Judge Van der Westhuizen confirmed that the Minister, his department and senior officials never had a valid defence, and are responsible for the months-long delay in implementing an effective private-sector-led vaccination campaign, which caused hundreds of farming operations to collapse or suffer severe damage.
“The judgment is also a victory against the unjustified centralisation of decision-making, power and implementation within the state, which long ago lost the capacity to effectively combat animal diseases, as well as against every political party, the Department of Agriculture, agricultural organisations, academics and activists who sought to protect and promote cadre control. It is a victory against unchecked abuses of power that caused immeasurable material and emotional damage to livestock farmers.
“Saai also regards this as a victory against organisations that farmers trusted to represent their interests, but which over time became more critical of the court case than of the state itself. Saai hopes that the Minister, his department and their loyal supporters within the agricultural industry will accept the judgment, and that they will no longer work against farmers and their representative organisations in ways that sabotage the fight against FMD. Saai believes this judgment can now finally place the livestock industry on the front foot in the war against FMD,” stated Saai.
Free State Agriculture was the third applicant.
This article was compiled with the help of AI.
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