BMC, gov’t dragged to court over FMD restrictions

Spira Tlhankane | Monday August 3, 2026 06:00

The beef companies, JS Beef (Pty) Ltd and Primefast (Pty) Ltd, are accusing authorities of strangling their businesses through prolonged Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) restrictions.

At the centre of the dispute is a series of FMD control measures imposed since January this year. In court papers, the applicants argue the restrictions have effectively blocked their ability to market cattle, threatening the viability of their businesses.

JS Beef (Pty) Ltd and Primefast (Pty) Ltd, through their lawyers Makuyana Legal Practice, have filed an urgent application in court.

They are seeking a court order for the review and setting aside of the series of decisions of orders of control measures and prohibitions for FMD by the first and second respondents, being the Director of Veterinary Services, Dr Kobedi Segale, and the Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Dr Edwin Dikoloti.

The applicants state they are cattle feedlot owners and that they face catastrophic circumstances not of their own making and notwithstanding every effort to mitigate the same.

“The applicants and others have made repeated attempts, over months, to prevail on the first and second respondents in particular, to consult and properly engage with them and avoid the then and still coming catastrophe.

“Regrettably, the applicants and others have been intentionally ignored,” the farmers state in their urgent application.

In addition, the two companies are seeking a court order compelling BMC to immediately receive and slaughter all of their vaccinated feedlot cattle at full capacity, arguing that the animals have been left stranded while millions of pula hang in the balance.

Additionally, the applicants want Segale and Dikoloti to cause the abattoir to “receive and slaughter at full capacity all of their vaccinated feedlot cattle delivered by the applicants, until all are slaughtered”.

The farmers also want the court to order BMC to package the applicants’ slaughtered beef and to store the same in its cold storage facilities indefinitely, until agreed or the court orders otherwise.

They also seek an order that, “after Commission has completed slaughtering, packaging and storing all the applicants’ beef, the parties shall agree a fair and reasonable price for slaughtering, packaging and storage, failing which they must submit themselves to court annexed mediation in terms of order 42A”.

JS Beef (Pty) Ltd and Primefast (Pty) Ltd argue that the case is fundamentally about the lawfulness of certain administrative action decisions taken by Dr Segale in response to the FMD outbreak.

“In the alternative, Dr Segale and the Minister’s decisions are impugned. The issues extend beyond the interests of the applicants. The applicants do not challenge the legitimacy of the disease-control measures or the State’s authority to control animal diseases and, in casu FMD,” the firms pointed out.

The applicants say they rather contend inter alia that after repeated requests for consultation and engagement, Dr Segale and Dr Dikoloti still continue to exercise their public powers in an unlawful manner.

“They irrationally, let alone unreasonably, failed to engage and consult with the applicants, the two largest by far feedlots in Botswana and the applicants and their circumstances have evidently never been considered at all, let alone the applicants consulted with. In fact, the applicants and their circumstances have simply been ignored,” the firms stated.

According to the two firms, they are challenging the entire lack of fair process as well as the substantive failures in their court application.

They maintain that they were ignored even when they tried repeatedly to engage to bring about scientifically supported, less restrictive alternatives capable of protecting both animal health and Botswana’s beef industry from the devastating consequences for them and the wider beef industry.

If granted, the application could have far-reaching implications for the country’s management of FMD outbreaks and the future role of BMC in handling cattle affected by disease control measures.

Government and the BMC had not yet filed their responses at the time of the application, with opposing papers expected before the scheduled hearing.

The matter has been set down for an urgent hearing before the High Court on August 3, 2026.