National ban on livestock auctions
Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza has gazetted a national ban on the auctioning of livestock due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
A farm in the Molemole District in Limpopo was earlier quarantined after state veterinarians detected foot-and-mouth disease in a herd of cattle.
In November, the ministry initially had issued a ban on animal auctions in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and North West due to the outbreak.
Ministerial spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo has urged farmers to make note of the ban.
“This is one of the measures that we are trying to take in terms of containing the spread of foot-and-mouth disease in Limpopo. This is a national ban which means it will affect all the provinces in the country in terms of movement of animals.”
Despite a ban in the province, a group of North West farmers went ahead with a livestock auction in the Lichtenberg area last month.