Agriculture, Economic Development and Tourism
- Whether his Department has increased veterinary capacity in response to the threat posed by foot-and-mouth disease and other livestock diseases; if not, why not; if so, (a) how many additional veterinary personnel have been appointed or contracted and (b) in which districts have they been deployed;
- whether any specific measures have been implemented to prevent the introduction of infected livestock into the province; if not, why not; if so, (a) what do these measures entail, (b) how many veterinary inspections or checkpoints have been established and (c) how is his Department coordinating with (i) national authorities and (ii) neighbouring provinces to monitor livestock movement?
11. (1) Yes the Department has increased capacity in response to the threat posed by Foot and Mouth Disease
(a) 20 additional contract Animal Health Technicians are in the process of being appointed and recruitment process at an advanced stage.
(b) Districts are:
- Garden Route
- Overberg
- Cape Winelands
- City of Cape Town
- West Coast
(2) (a) Measures include introduction of movement permits; increased vehicle and livestock properties inspections; and increased roadblocks in hotspots areas with the support of local government and Provincial Traffic.
(b) 32 Veterinary inspections and checkpoints have been instituted at various hotspots throughout the province.
(c) (i) Coordination is achieved through Veterinary Working Group engagements. Secondly various Joint Operations Centres [JOC] have been activated in affected regions and we participate at the bi-weekly, MINTECh and MINMEC convened by the national DG and Minister respectively/
(ii) Bilateral engagements arranged with officials of State Veterinary areas bordering neighbouring provinces.
