As cattle continue to be ravaged by the highly contagious viral mouth and mouth disease (FMD), the Department of Agriculture has been given three weeks to publish newly-drafted vaccine regulations in the Government Gazette, reports Business Day.
The interim order was granted by Judge Cornelius van der Westhuizen in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) on Tuesday, in a case against the state brought by business lobby group Sakeliga, agricultural network Southern African Agri Initiative (Saai, and commercial farmers’ group Free State Agriculture.
They have accused the government of controlling the procurement of the vaccine without having regulations in place, effectively delaying the independent farmers’ response to the outbreak.
FMD was declared a national disaster last month, and the department plans to procure millions of vaccines to administer to 14m cattle within months.
But the organisations want an order allowing producers and farmers to privately procure and administer vaccines until regulations or control measures are issued.
This is because the state insists it has the legal authority to control and provide oversight on the vaccination and that anyone who wants to procure it independently needs state approval.
The groups also want the government to be interdicted from interfering in the relationship between those who want to independently import vaccines into the country, and their suppliers.
Van der Westhuizen postponed the matter to 28 April after the department filed a last-minute supplementary affidavit alerting the court to a pending publication of FMD vaccination scheme regulations by Minister John Steenhuisen.
The lack of regulations has been central to the litigation, because the organisations argued there is “no impediment” to private procurement and administration of vaccines.
The government relied on sections of the Animal Diseases Act to strengthen its case for control.
The supplementary affidavit stated that Steenhuisen will approve and publish the regulations soon.
The department, represented by Jonathan de Beer, asked the court for a month to finalise publication of the regulations, but the judge did not agree and gave 17 April as the deadline. After publication of the regulations, the matter returns to court on 28 April.
Johan Hamman, representing the organisations, argued for the court to issue the interdict, saying animals continue to die, having earlier said that importing the vaccine from foreign countries takes time due to regulatory checks.
Van der Westhuizen said the vaccines would not be immediately available if the order were granted on Tuesday, and that it would be appropriate to grant (the state) the opportunity to finalise the scheme so that everybody can have a look at it.
He said it was illogical and made no sense to grant an order that was not immediately effective and which was then overtaken by another scheme (regulations).
He added that the department’s staff would have to work over the Easter holidays to solve the problem and have the regulations published for clarity in the vaccination programme.
All parties agreed to the court order to halt the matter.
The department’s acting DG, Dipepeneneng Serage, in his responding affidavit, described the relief sought as one that would create “chaos and anarchy”.
He says it would result in uncontrolled private vaccinations that would undermine the state’s traceability, strain compatibility, and effort to regain FMD-free status from the World Organisation for Animal Health.
“Import permits for private suppliers are already being processed and will be issued once regulatory requirements are met.”
Business Day article – Judge sets deadline for rules on foot-and-mouth disease vaccines
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