Human behaviour blamed in Botswana's FMD fight
Larona Makhaiza | Wednesday April 15, 2026 10:37
Since the start of the year, Botswana has been embroiled in the fight against FMD, particularly in Zone 6B, where the virus was detected.
Just when things seemed under control for a moment, recently, the portfolio ministry revealed that an FMD case had been registered in Ramatlabama, which plunged the country’s fight against the disease.
Spiralling out of control, the virus has also been detected in the outskirts of Ramatlabama (Papatlo and Matasalalo).
Providing an update on the state of the disease since it was confirmed at Ramatlabama, Dikoloti told the media yesterday that a human probably transmitted the disease. He emphasised that there has not been any movement of cattle in and out of the artificial insemination centre.
“Our investigations indicate that no cattle were introduced to the Ramatlabama Artificial Insemination Ranch. The cattle were never moved as well, which means Foot and Mouth disease detected in the ranch was a result of human activity,” Dikoloti revealed.
The minister said it is now quite clear to them that the threat of transmission of FMD is not in erecting cordon fences, as the latest outbreak case bypassed a fence that cost millions.
“This disease has breached a P65 million-wired fence. It has also breached a P9.5 million-wired fence at Ramatlabama. We can even see this in other countries, how uncontrollable it is,” he said.
As the government is incessantly seeking solutions, the culminating strategies to mitigate this disease fall short when unheeded, posing a significant danger in crippling the beef sector and economy, which Dikoloti said humans are a huge challenge in the fight.
“Mo bolwetseng joo, bothata ja bone jo bo tona tona ke motho! Ke ene hela a ka bo anamisang. Ga re ka baakanya seemo se sentle,” he said. Which loosely translates to, “When dealing with this disease, a huge challenge with it is us humans. It’s us who transmit this disease. Let us fix that,” he said.
He appealed to the public to join hands and unite in the fight against FMD, as it has proved to be a perennial challenge that needs everyone.
“I want us to agree that this disease requires us all to stand in unity. For instance, we have a feedlot, a high-security area which now has FMD, the Ramatlabama AI high-value security area,” Dikoloti said.
Dikoloti emphasised that people need to introspect and contain themselves.
“A re bue le motho gore a itshware. Motho amogela maiteko a Batswana. Batswana ba eme ka dinao,” he said. Loosely translated to, “Let us call each other out and appreciate all of our efforts,” he said.