South Africa, today, faces one of the gravest animal health crises in living memory. The ongoing Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak has not only devastated farmers, but destroyed livelihoods, and placed the cattle industry at serious risk. It is against this backdrop that the dismissal of Dr. Danie Odendaal, a leading ruminant veterinary specialist, from the Ministerial Task Team on Controlled Diseases must be questioned.
Dr. Odendaal recently revealed that South Africa possessed a fully registered FMD vaccine, as early as 2022, which was developed at the Agricultural Research Council’s Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute with taxpayer money. He urged government to stockpile and scale production at that time, but they failed to act. Instead of preparing, the Department of Agriculture allowed years of delay, leaving the nation exposed to preventable outbreaks.
Recently, farmers were offered a mere 12 000 doses, while experts estimate that 14 million doses every six months are required to regain control. This shortfall is not a matter of science but one of governance failure and neglect.
Recent news reports confirm that locally produced vaccines have only now, in 2026, begun to reach farmers after more than two decades without domestic production. The Ministry itself has acknowledged this as a ‘milestone’ in veterinary research. Yet this breakthrough comes far too late for the thousands of farmers who have already suffered catastrophic losses.
Industry-led procurement has shown what is possible. The South African Feedlot Association secured 644 000 doses from the Botswana Vaccine Institute, In October 2025, which demonstrates that supply can be mobilised when government partners with the private sector.
Billions of rand squandered, livelihoods shattered, and untold suffering inflicted on animals; this is the devastating consequences of delay. Farmers have been locked out of vaccine procurement and administration, despite no statutory impediment to private-sector involvement. The ACDP believes that this exclusion by Minister John Steenhuisen has worsened the crisis and eroded trust in government’s stewardship of animal health.
We view Dr. Odendaal’s removal from the Task Team by Minister Steenhuisen as him silencing a critical voice at precisely the moment when transparency, accountability, and collaboration are most needed. Dr. Odendaal’s allegations that the so-called ‘new’ vaccine is not new at all, and that government’s failure to act constitutes a betrayal of public trust, demand urgent investigation.
The ACDP for this reason calls for an independent inquiry into the handling of FMD vaccine development and stockpiling from 2022. We further call for the immediate lifting of restrictions on private-sector procurement and administration of vaccines, and for a national vaccination strategy that meets the scientifically established threshold of 14 million doses every six months.
In addition, we demand accountability from Minister Steenhuisen for his decisions that have deepened this crisis. Minister Steenhuisen should step aside or resign.
South Africa’s farmers feed this nation. They deserve a government that acts with foresight, integrity, and urgency. Anything less is a betrayal of public trust and a dereliction of duty
