The Pretoria High Court has ruled that farmers may procure from lawful importers, manufacturers or their lawful agents of Foot and Mouth Disease FMD vaccines.
Southern African Agri Initiative SAAI CEO Francois Rossouw has described the judgment in the Pretoria High Court against the Minister of Agriculture and other state institutions as a victory for every livestock and game farmer in South Africa.
Rossouw welcomed the judgment by Judge Van der Westhuizen, who found that the Minister of Agriculture, his department and senior officials never had a valid defence, and are responsible for the months-long delay in implementing an effective private-sector-led vaccination campaign, which caused hundreds of farming operations to collapse or suffer severe damage.
