MoA in ‘lawsuit’ threat over FMD livestock culling
Lebogang Mosikare | Monday September 26, 2022 06:00
This came to the fore during a press conference that MoA’s assistant minister Molebatsi Molebatsi and other senior ranking government officials addressed recently at Thapama Hotel. The MoA detected the FMD which also infects goats, sheep, pigs and wildlife in Butale village on August 22.
Currently, Molebatsi said FMD clinical tests show that the disease is still localised in Zone 6(b), particularly in the villages north of Bisoli Ranch namely Jackalas 1, Ramokgwebana, Tsamaya, Tshesebe, Butale, Senyawe, Siviya, and Mabuzane.
The zone also includes Matsiloje and Matshelagabedi village extension areas. After Molebatsi and MoA officials finished addressing and fielding questions from the media, an emotional farmer in Zone 6(b) and former employee of MoA, Pius Malikongwa, made his feelings known to Molebatsi and his lieutenants.
A blunt Malikongwa said in the past, MoA promised farmers in Zone 6 that their livestock will no longer be exterminated if they contract FMD but will be vaccinated. He added that he is now surprised that the government was not honouring its past promise but is now in the process of killing cattle yet again.
"After careful consideration of both short and long-term impacts on livelihoods, the economy, and the livestock industry, government approved the strategy for eradicating FMD in Zone 6(b). The overall objective of this strategy is to obtain green zone status as soon as possible, by depopulating all livestock and then populating the zone as soon as the green zone status is obtained.
"All cattle in the containment zone shall be slaughtered in an approved abattoir after the quarantine period,” Molebatsi said.
He, however, clarified that if clinical tests in other areas within Zone 6(b) show that livestock is not infected with FMD, the livestock will only be vaccinated and not be exterminated. Malikongwa told Molebatsi that MoA should cull the animals at its peril but should remember the case of 48 farmers who sued the ministry and succeeded in the past querying the measly and blanket P1,700 compensation following a similar situation.
In his response to what Molebatsi had earlier intimated, Malikongwa warned the MoA lot that if the exercise is done recklessly they would soon be signing up for a repeat suit. He warned that by then, MoA compensated farmers with P1,700 without considering the breed of the cattle killed and other factors. MoA is now compensating with P2,480 per beast (cattle) irrespective of age, sex, or breed of animal and P600 per animal irrespective of species, sex, age, or breed for small stock.
Malikongwa said farmers were not consulted about the new compensation rates before they came into force. He also questioned whether MoA will adequately manage to contain FMD in Zone 6(b) when the ministry does not have a substantive Director of Veterinary Services (DVS) adding that the position is now handled by Dr Kefentse Motshegwa on an acting basis.
“MoA should appoint the substantive DVS with immediate effect. Should farmers decide to take MoA to court decrying the current low compensation rates, Motshegwa will be constrained to answer questions because the only person who is empowered by the Diseases of Animal Act to take such action as culling livestock is the DVS,” Malikongwa said.
In response to Malikongwa’s concerns, Molebatsi stated that he understood and appreciated what Malikongwa said. Molebatsi added that since the meeting was exclusively for members of the press, MoA will in the shortest possible time organise a similar meeting with farmers to address any issues of concern.
In 2016, attorneys representing 48 farmers, Duma Boko and Miriro Furusa, argued that it was unconstitutional for the state to compensate the farmers with the measly P1,700 without considering many variables at play before killing the beasts. They submitted that in the case, the DVS is empowered to take such actions but his actions should be within the constitution.
They also said that what boggled the mind was that the respondents said that the appellants wanted to sell their cattle at BMC while in Setswana culture, farmers can keep their cattle for prestige and use them to pay the bride price and perform other cultural practices. The attorneys added that the World Animal Health Organisation (WAHO) prescribes that all the cattle in the infected zone should have been tested for FMD before they were killed but the government killed the cattle in the zone without testing them to save costs.
On the other hand, the Attorney General (AG) representing the DVS argued that contrary to the applicants’ attorneys’ assertions about the president’s directive, it was not true because the President was only chairing a Cabinet meeting that decided to kill the cattle. He said the Disease of Animals Act empowers the DVS to direct that any animal within an infected area be isolated and killed to control the disease.
“The Act does not say that the animals should be infected or not. The DVS is not obliged to show any scientific evidence to come to the conclusion that the animals are infected,” said the AG.
The AG added that the Act states that if the animals are within an FMD locality, they can be exterminated. “The vaccinating, killing, and burying of animals in an FMD-infected area is the only internationally recognised way of fighting the spread of FMD,” the AG added. In the end, the court ruled in favour of the farmers.