Boko fights for Zone 6 farmers� P9m bid
Lebogang Mosikare | Friday October 21, 2016 18:18
In 2011 the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) killed cattle in Zone 6 and compensated farmers P1700 per beast regardless of the breed and value of the animal.
A total of 48 farmers approached the High Court demanding over P9million for their 1800 cattle that were culled. Some of their cattle, they argue, were expensive breeds.
Boko said it was unconstitutional for the state to compensate the farmers the measly P1700 without considering many variables at play prior to killing the animals. He argued that the government was only interested in protecting the interests of Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) and the European Union (EU) market.
He dismissed the presidential directive that ordered slaughter as unlawful because the cattle were not infected by FMD.
“The President acted outside the constitution by issuing a directive for the cattle to be killed. The only person who is empowered by the Diseases of Animal Act to take such action is the Director of Veterinary Services and not the President,” he said.
He said the matter at hand did not require the President to act because it is not in the same wavelength with taking decision to wage war, which requires the country’s highest office.
“In this case, the director of veterinary services is empowered to take such actions but his actions should be within the constitution,” said Boko. He added that it boggles the mind why the respondents think 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 bride price and in other cultural practices.
He added that the World Animal Health Organisation (WAHO) prescribes that all the cattle in the zone should have been tested for FMD before they were killed but government killed the cattle in order to save costs.
“You cannot plead your purse to avoid your constitutional obligations...”
He added that BMC pays farmers peanuts and in most cases late; so to say that the farmers wanted to sell their cattle to BMC is unfounded and irrational. “It also defies logic why the state is saying the cattle were infected with FMD because no scientific proof has been availed to substantiate that argument”. Boko further argued that even if government felt that it had a valid reason to exterminate the animals, it does not absolve the taker from paying the farmers adequate compensation.
Miriro Furusa, the appellants’ other attorney, concurred with Boko’s sentiments. He said that if the cattle that were slaughtered were not infected by FMD, it follows logic that the farmers should be adequately compensated.
“We submit that because the cattle were not tested for FMD and were just killed without any scientific proof, the cattle owners should be paid accordingly because the cattle still retained their market value. There was no need to kill them because they were not infected in the first place,” Furusa said.
Furusa said that although the director of veterinary services acted within his right to declare Zone 6 an FMD area, his powers did not end there.
“It does not follow that if an area is declared an FMD zone, all cattle within the zone are infected by the disease. The defendants should have first scientifically determined if all the cattle were infected before proceeding to slaughter them,” he argued.
Ndiye Balule from the Attorney General’s Chambers (AG) however dismissed the appellant’s arguments.
Balule said contrary to Boko’s assertions about the President’s directive, it was not true because the President was only chairing a Cabinet meeting that took the decision to kill the cattle.
He said the Disease of Animal Act empowers the director of veterinary services to direct that any animal within an infected area be isolated and killed for the purposes of controlling the disease.
“The Act does not say that the animals should be infected or not. The director is not obliged to show any scientific evidence to come to the conclusion that the animals are infected,” he said.
He 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, he added.
Balule stated that Zone 6 culling of cattle was lawful because the primary market of beef in Botswana is the EU, which does not buy cattle from FMD infected areas.
“The beef industry earns the country the much needed foreign currency and must be jealously protected,” Balule said. He said the P1700 per beast compensation was reasonable and that it was going to be expensive to test all the animals before culling.
Justice Barnabas Nyamadzabo will deliver judgment on the matter in March 3 next year.