The year of the buffalo
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Friday December 23, 2016 13:40
Earlier, in April this year, a buffalo was found in an unfamiliar territory of Moreane crush in Lotlhakane, near Kanye after it attacked two headmen. The buffalo was later hunted down and killed by officials from the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks.
There were endless speculations as to where the buffalo came from, but to date its origins remain a mystery. At some point people found the humour side of the incident of the “trending” beast as they sometimes sent the DVS officers on a wild-goose chase.
There was a two-week ban on the movement of cloven-hoofed animals and slaughtering in Zone 11 and the suspension of slaughter at the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) Lobatse abattoir, which is at the heartbeat of the country’s beef export to the European Union (EU) market. This affected farmers from the zone and the BMC revenue as they lost on business although the losses could not be quantified.
At national level, the buffalo incident also became a social event spoiler. As authorities banned slaughtering of the cloven-hoofed animals, it was made clear that this included slaughtering for social gatherings such as funerals, weddings, parties and other social celebrations. Pounded meat (Seswaa) is an important delicacy at all social gatherings in Botswana and as a result, most butcheries ran out of stock in less than a week as people bought in large quantities for these occasions.
Three people were charged and fined after they were found in possession of carcasses of cattle in Thamaga and Mmankgodi for contravening the ban of slaughter and the movement of cloven-hoofed animals and their products imposed by the DVS. It took two weeks for the veterinary officials to conduct Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) tests in the area. It was a sigh of relief for many when the samples tested free of FMD. Following the decision by government to ‘shoot on sight’ stray Zimbabwean cattle, there were reports in October that the Botswana government has shot over 400 Zimbabwean cattle. The move was a way of preventing the outbreak of FMD in the Northeast district.
There were also reports of increased livestock mortalities, especially cattle, in areas south of the Central District and northern Kgatleng and Kweneng districts due to plant poisoning (Parvetta, called legonyana in Setswana).
However, on the positive side a solution to the social spoiler has been developed following the launch of the rapid diagnostic kit for FMD testing recently by the Botswana Institute of Technology Research and Innovation (BITRI) in collaboration with the Botswana Vaccine Institute and Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
At a BITRI stakeholder engagement held in Maun, the Minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, Dr Alfred Madigele said the rapid test kit promises to be a major breakthrough in the testing of FMD not just in Botswana, but in Africa. He explained that it will detect FMD in an animal within 25 minutes on site and immediately assist in monitoring the disease. The FMD test kit is similar to that used for HIV and pregnancy tests.
President Ian Khama also stated in his State of the Nation Address that they will submit applications to the World Organisation for Animal Health for Zones 3b (Nata-Gweta) and Zone 7 (Mmadinare-Bobirwa) to be declared FMD free.