As December 2025 drags on, South Africa's foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak — already the worst in decades — has spread to Limpopo, a province whose remote, cattle-dense communal farming areas make it a perfect storm for uncontrolled transmission. The Department of Agriculture confirmed cases on two farms in the Waterberg district on December 9, imposing immediate quarantines and a 10 km movement buffer zone. But with holiday season in full swing, government offices emptying out and enforcement as reliable as a summer shower, experts warn this could be the tipping point that breaks the livestock industry.Limpopo isn't just another dot on the map; it's a tinderbox.
The province's vast communal grazing lands, where thousands of smallholder farmers share herds with minimal fencing or biosecurity, have long been FMD hotspots. A single infected animal can spark a chain reaction across hundreds of kilometres, especially now, when animals are moved for sales, slaughter or feed. The national tally stands at over 274 cases since April, with KwaZulu-Natal bearing the brunt (191 active), but Limpopo's rugged terrain and porous borders with Zimbabwe and Botswana amplify the risk. "This is very dangerous," says veterinary consultant Dr Dirk Verwoerd. "Communal systems lack the traceability and isolation that commercial farms have. One outbreak here could cascade nationwide."
The timing couldn't be worse. It's December — peak holiday season — and finding a government employee at their desk is like spotting a unicorn. State vets, inspectors and officials are scarce, many decamping to beaches or overseas escapes while the crisis festers. The Ministerial Task Team's vaccination rollout, announced by Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen on November 26, promised 2 million doses by February, but bureaucratic bottlenecks have left 650,000 imported vaccines from Botswana mouldering in storage at Onderstepoort Biological Products. Senior officials like Dr Mpho Maja and Dr Mike Modisane stand accused of stonewalling approvals, citing "financial prudence" and "scientific rigour," but critics call it paralysis by incompetence.South Africa's FMD fight was always an uphill battle in a country where laws exist but enforcement is a joke.
The Animal Diseases Act mandates quarantines, movement controls and reporting, but in a nation plagued by chaos — where murder, rape and corruption are daily headlines — expecting compliance is naive. Rural policing is a myth; stock theft syndicates operate with impunity, and illegal animal movements are routine. Communal farmers, who produce much of the informal meat supply, often ignore rules out of necessity or ignorance, crossing district lines unchecked. Agents and middlemen, profiting from unchecked sales, exacerbate the spread. "Certain farmers and agents just don't obey," says Milk Producers' Organisation CEO Daan le Roux. "They move infected stock for quick cash, and the disease explodes."Commercial farmers — the backbone of formal exports and jobs — are paying the price. Dairy giants in KwaZulu-Natal (30% of national production) face cull orders and export bans, with losses mounting into billions.
Nick Serfontein of Sernick Group warns of bankruptcies: "Hundreds will go under without vaccines and enforcement." The Red Meat Industry Services estimates R2 billion in red meat losses alone, while the Milk Producers' Organisation begs President Ramaphosa for intervention. Communal farmers, meanwhile, carry on — their subsistence herds less regulated, less vaccinated, but also less economically devastating when hit.
The government's response? A mix of bold announcements and baffling inaction. Steenhuisen's task team delivered a preventative vaccination blueprint in October, but signatures from hold-up officials remain elusive. The Dollvet vaccine import permit dangles in limbo, potentially delaying relief by a month. And with 80% of outbreaks unresolved across five provinces, the World Organisation for Animal Health's FMD-free status hangs by a thread, slamming exports to the EU, UK and beyond.In a country where incompetence is institutionalised — from potholed roads to pilfered vaccines — controlling FMD was always a fantasy. Laws demand quarantines and tracing, but without competent enforcers, they're paper tigers.
Holiday absenteeism only sharpens the knife: while certain officials sip cocktails in Durban or Dubai, infected herds roam free, and commercial outfits bleed cash.The real victims? The 850,000 people employed in agriculture, the families facing empty plates from rising meat prices, and the rural economy teetering on collapse. Communal farmers might "just go on," but without urgent, ruthless action — firing blockers, deploying private vets, enforcing borders — South Africa's livestock sector won't. FMD isn't just a disease; it's a symptom of a broken system. And in December 2025, as the world parties, this one is festering unchecked.
For more than half a century South Africa proved it is possible to live with buffalo and still keep foot-and-mouth disease out of commercial herds.How? Simple, brutal and 100 % effective:
- A proper, patrolled red-line fence around the infected buffalo zone
- Permanent roadblocks on every road out, manned by real police and the defence force
- Mandatory dip tanks, foot baths and vehicle disinfection
- Instant culling of any breakout
- Zero tolerance on movement permits
Senior directors aren't clueless—they're complacent. Without their fire, FMD isn't leaving; it's winning. Farmers demand heads roll, resources surge and real enforcement. Anything less? It's not leadership. It's letting the herd—and the economy—die. Farmers cannot sell their cattle- and banks does not have patience. Without ironclad transparency, audited tenders and zero tolerance for cronies, this vaccination drive risks becoming another looting spree. Farmers demand oversight now, not after the billions vanish. In a nation scarred by COVID graft, FMD isn't just a disease — it's a test of whether we've learned anything at all. Fail it, and the real pandemic will be hunger.
Our team travels across South Africa every single week, from the Karoo to Limpopo, from the Free State to the KZN Midlands. What we hear is raw frustration, exhaustion and a growing certainty that foot-and-mouth disease is no longer an outbreak, it is the new normal.We are not being negative. We are simply reporting what we see with our own eyes: in a country where chaos, corruption and lawlessness have become part of daily life, you cannot expect to control a highly contagious animal disease.
If the rules are ignored on the roads, in the courts and in Parliament, they will be ignored on the farms too.When fences are stolen for scrap, when stock theft syndicates move cattle across provincial borders at night, when communal herds graze alongside commercial operations with zero traceability, and when government offices empty out in December while the virus spreads, the result is inevitable.
Real commercial farmers, the ones who employ thousands and feed the nation, are losing millions. Many face bankruptcy. Yet the disease marches on.Foot-and-mouth is here to stay, not because it is unbeatable, but because the country that must beat it is too broken to do so. That is the truth we bring back from the veld, week after week.
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