President Cyril Ramaphosa officially declared the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak a national disaster during his State of the Nation Address
Image: FILE
Roadblocks, vaccinations and emergency regulations are now in place in parts of the Western Cape after foot-and-mouth disease was declared a disaster.
During his State of the Province Address in George on Wednesday, Premier Alan Winde said the outbreak poses a serious economic risk, particularly to agriculture.
He said agriculture was one of the province’s key sectors.
“Biosecurity threats and disasters such as foot and mouth disease pose a serious risk to our farmers and the Western Cape's economy,” Winde said.
Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious viral disease that affects cattle and other cloven-hoofed animals.
While it does not typically infect humans, the outbreak caused livestock movement bans, export restrictions and major financial losses.
President Cyril Ramaphosa declared the disease outbreak a national disaster during his State of the Nation Address on earlier this month.
A Government Gazette was later issued formally classifying the outbreak as a national disaster under the Disaster Management Act.
Winde said about R13.5bn of the provincial economy is directly linked to the dairy and meat industries.
“We are happy that it has been declared a disaster and in the last two and a half weeks this province has taken it very serious," Winde said.
"We have put roadblocks up, we have drafted regulation and sent them to the national department, we have picked up cases, we vaccinate in those areas in the 10 kilometer radius around and specifically here in this region."
He said the dairy industry in the affected areas has already felt the impact.
The Western Cape accounts for 58% of SA’s total agricultural exports, with products reaching 78 countries.
Agriculture and agri-processing together supported about 250,000 jobs in the province last year.
“We will get on top of it and protect this industry and we will also then protect food security in this region and those export jobs that it drives,” Winde said.
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