Farmers win legal battle to privately import and administer FMD vaccines

The interim order, granted in favour of Sakeliga, the Southern African Agri Initiative (SAAI) and Free State Agriculture, also interdicts the Minister of Agriculture, the director-general and the director of Animal Health from interfering in commercial agreements involving lawful importers of FMD vaccines. The court found that the minister and other respondents had “vehemently opposed” the application, but “failed to indicate any substantive defence”. It further found that the respondents had “engineered delays in having the matter heard and adjudicated upon” and that their conduct “calls for some sanction from the court”.

The judgment also criticised the minister’s Section 10 animal health scheme, describing it as “vexed” and stating that it did “not provide for any controlled purpose or for the improvement of animal health”. The organisation said the judgment vindicated its longstanding argument that there was no lawful prohibition preventing private livestock owners from vaccinating their animals against FMD. “It is trite that any private person may do anything that is not prohibited by law,” the court stated in the judgment.

The court further held that private vaccination efforts would not undermine the state’s response to the outbreak, but would instead “assist them in the fight against FMD”. Government, however, insists the ruling does not undermine the national vaccination programme and says private participation was already being accommodated under the Section 10 scheme.