State of the Nation: Mr President, please do not praise Steenhuisen, bury him
EDITOR'S NOTE
President Cyril Ramaphosa's ties to livestock and game farming raise critical questions about his handling of the Foot-and-Mouth Disease crisis. Will he hold Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen accountable for past failures?
Image: Itumeleng English/Independent Newspapers
President Cyril Ramaphosa is a man who knows a lot about animals, particularly cattle and buffalo. This gave rise to his nickname "Buffalo" and inspired the naming of an ANC camp aligned to him in the run up to the last party election as the Ankoles – referencing those magnificent Ugandan cattle with mega-horns.
Our president is a passionate farmer and Ankole breeder who is said to have introduced the breed in South Africa about 20 years ago. The intricate story as to how the first nucleus herd of Ankole was imported in embryonic state illustrates the point I’m trying to remind you about, fellow South Africans.
Anyone who knows about these bovine animals – especially the African buffalo – knows about the associated risk of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD). The African buffalo is known to be resistant to FMD, only showing slight symptoms when infected, but its herds are known to act as reservoirs for the highly infectious and debilitating virus to cloven-hoofed livestock.
With farmers and others in the industry desperately trying to fight the virus spreading like wildfire across the country, it’s going to be interesting to hear what the president will say about this crisis when he delivers his umpteenth State of the Nation Address on Thursday.
Most likely he will praise Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen for the resumption of local production of FMD vaccines and conveniently say nothing about how the ball was dropped. Besides the fact that only a pitifully small amount of vaccines have been locally produced so far, why should anyone praise a fish for slowly learning to swim again?
Ramaphosa should have known that the FMD virus will always roam around our beautiful land like the unstoppable wild buffalo herds. And having led us through Covid-19, he should also know that prevention is better than cure when it comes to such speedy and ferocious viruses. However, he and his embattled minister seem to have been caught napping – if not busy frying other bigger fish – and have only recently awoken to try and put out the fires.
Mr President, please do not praise Steenhuisen, but bury him. Fire him. He has admitted to neglecting his day job, only promising last week to be fully devoted going forward as he steps aside from his party leadership priorities. He is becoming a liability to you, his party and our economy.