South African farmers rank among the world's best—practical, resilient producers who deliver high-quality food and drive strong exports, especially to Africa, with 2025 agricultural exports hitting a record $15.1 billion (over half to African markets like Zimbabwe, which took 35% of maize).
Yet they operate in a country where the government (ANC or GNU) excels mostly at empty promises, flashy events, flashy cars, flashy clothes, singing, dancing, and taxpayer-funded indulgence.It's a show- !!! Always a real party with lots of entertainment - while most of the time delivering little real support beyond red tape and delays.
Many officials and politicians grow rich on state salaries but produce nothing tangible, leaving farmers to question whether the devastating foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) crisis—now the worst since 2019, with thousands infected across eight provinces, 291 cases in Free State alone, quarantines, export bans, and projected R25 billion losses over a decade—is deliberate negligence or sheer incompetence.
A deeper look reveals years of ignored warnings: a 2016 task team crafted a 10-year animal health strategy, but a 2021 review found veterinary systems "dysfunctional and virtually broken," with chronic vet shortages, outdated labs, and vaccine production halted at Onderstepoort over 20 years ago. Despite R492 million allocated in 2018/19 for upgrades, R153 million remains unspent as of October 2024, while Treasury's 2025 review warned OBP is "on the brink of collapse." Minister John Steenhuisen, appointed with no farming background (allegedly influenced by an "agricultural deep state" of mega-farmers and agribusinesses), defends his 10-year plan but dismisses critics as spreading "misinformation" for recruitment or fundraising.
Groups like Saai, Sakeliga, and Vrystaat Landbou launch legal challenges, calling the response fragmented, slow, and structurally incapable, with private vaccine bans and bureaucratic hurdles worsening losses.
John Steenhuisen, the Minister of Agriculture, and his department have committed treason against livestock farmers and consumers in the country with their handling of the purchase of vaccines against (FMD) and Design Biologix’s role therein, says AfriForum.
John Steenhuisen's removal of critics like Dr Danie Odendaal from committees (for not signing confidentiality agreements) fuels perceptions of silencing dissent and political maneuvering.No hard evidence proves the epidemic is deliberate (e.g., to enable land grabs), but systemic failures—underfunding, outdated laws labeling FMD "state-controlled," and ignored task team recommendations—border on betrayal. Farmers can't wait: they're turning to self-reliance through private biosecurity networks, cooperatives, legal pressure for vaccine access, and diversification.
United and proactive, they've survived sanctions, droughts, and reforms before. Now, it's time to bypass red tape, demand accountability, and force government to support—not hinder—the sector that feeds the nation.South African farmers are proven hard workers and doers—they've always stepped up when real action is needed, supporting each other and solving problems on the ground even when government help is slow or absent. Unity among producers has been their greatest strength in past crises (droughts, sanctions, market shocks), and it's exactly what is required now to push back against the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) disaster.
John Steenhuisen repeatedly asserted that vaccine production and distribution had to remain under state control to comply with international animal health standards.
The World Organisation for Animal Health has confirmed: ▪️It does not regulate who produces vaccines within a country. ▪️It does not require state monopoly. ▪️It imposes no operational control over vaccination models. Because once that justification falls away, the remaining explanation is choice. Food security is a human right. Livelihood is a human right. Dignity is a human right. When a minister knowingly maintains a bottleneck while a preventable disease spreads, the harm is not theoretical. It is measurable. * Loss of income * Loss of work * Loss of food supply stability * Loss of trust in public administration- These are rights impacts.
When small and medium commercial farmers go bankrupt or exit due to FMD losses (R25 billion projected over a decade), movement bans, export collapses, and inability to sell or vaccinate quickly, land and livestock become cheaper and more available for acquisition or redistribution. Farmers see the pattern: promises made but never kept (like local procurement in sugar), task teams formed but recommendations shelved, and a minister who publicly attacks critics while appearing powerless over entrenched officials.
The gut feeling among many is that the crisis is being allowed to drag on because it serves a broader political agenda—faster implementation of transformation policies without the political cost of direct intervention. Farmers are not waiting for rescue; they're uniting through cooperatives, legal action, private biosecurity networks, and diversification (sunflowers, soybeans, agritourism) to survive and take control.
Despite the high-profile removal of Dr Danie Odendaal from the Ministerial Task Team on Controlled Diseases there has been a noticeable absence of formal press releases, official statements, or public responses from major farming organisations and agricultural companies. No joint communiqués, media statements, or public condemnations have appeared on their websites or in mainstream agricultural media as of February 12, 2026.
South African farmers, facing the devastating foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) crisis with massive losses, quarantines, export bans, and projected R25 billion damage over a decade, are calling for much stronger involvement from the agriculture machinery sector, banks, and supply-chain companies (input suppliers, feed producers, abattoirs, transporters) to help solve the disaster. They want these corporate players to step up with tangible support—rather than waiting for slow government action. Farmers emphasize that these stakeholders benefit from a healthy livestock sector and should now “get to the table” with real resources and unity to assist producers, stabilize the value chain, and prevent further collapse, as producers cannot afford prolonged delays while the crisis deepens.
Unity is the only way forward: collective pressure, transparent demands, and refusal to be silenced will force real results faster than any government plan ever could. Farmers don't need more speeches—they need action, and they're prepared to deliver it themselves if the state won't. They need a Minister who support them- assist them and not control them.
We need unity in Farming and Agriculture to solve this huge problem.
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BREAKING: Despite declaring a “war” on Foot and Mouth Disease, farmers have still not received the critical vaccines.
— Athol Trollip (@AtholT) February 12, 2026
Every day that the Department of Agriculture delays the procurement of these vaccines due to bureaucratic dithering is another day in which infected herds… pic.twitter.com/1QApM9xT9A
