Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen faced scrutiny from MPs over the mandate and composition of the foot-and-mouth disease task team.
- Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen faced scrutiny from MPs over the unclear mandate and composition of the foot-and-mouth disease task team.
- MPs raised concerns about non-disclosure agreements, lack of farmer support, and coordination of FMD disaster funds across provinces.
- Steenhuisen clarified the task team’s advisory role, its focus on technical expertise, and the sensitivity of vaccine-related information.
Parliamentarians serving on the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture grilled Minister John Steenhuisen on the terms of reference for his foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) task team, demanding to know exactly what the task team’s role would be.
Members of Parliament also quizzed Steenhuisen on the make-up of the task team during a portfolio committee meeting on Tuesday.
The portfolio committee convened as FMD continues to cause devastation among South Africa’s cattle.
President Cyril Ramaphosa declared FMD a national disaster.
ANC MP Sharon Davids said the ministerial task teams’ (MTT) mandate was unclear.
“We need to know the mandate and role of the MTT because we don’t want duplication,” she said.
She called for 24-hour updates to the committee.
She added: “We are hearing farmers complaining every day that they aren’t getting any assistance. We need to know what is happening around this rollout of this process.”
ActionSA’s Athol Trollip questioned the purpose of making ministerial task team members sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), given that they have to give feedback to industry players.
“The minister said that the MTT is made up of vets and people from the public sector. I believe that this includes private vets as well as organised agriculture. If you have representatives from organisations that represent farmers, how can they be expected to sign non-disclosures when they actually represent organisations that should be giving them feedback?
“It’s now clear that all provinces are affected, and the heat map shows that the northern provinces are the worst affected, including the Free State, which is a central province, and then fast spreading in the Eastern Cape.”
READ | Cost of Contagion: Inside SA’s foot-and-mouth crisis
Trollip said he was pleased with the high level of proactiveness in vaccinating.
He also asked whether the national department was coordinating with provincial departments that have made announcements about the disbursement of FMD disaster funds.
Another ANC MP, Nobuhle Nkabane, asked if the department was in any way compensating communal farmers for their losses.
Steenhusein responded, explaining that the ministerial task team had not “usurped” any powers from officials.
He said: “The ministerial task team is there to provide technical advice and assistance to the department and the minister. They developed a heat map that divided the country into municipal areas and ascribed to each of those categories of priority,” Steenhuisen said.
He said the ministerial task team’s terms of reference would be circulated to members of the committee.
“This is distinct from the role of the director-general, bearing in mind that no report comes to my office without going to the director-general and his deputy. There is no usurpation of the DG or the animal health unit,” Steenhuisen said.
He said Trollip was present at a press briefing on the ministerial task team, and he was aware that the task team did not include any agricultural organisations.
“I read the names out, and there are no agricultural organisations, they are vets, scientists and technicians, and their job is to advise us on the strategy and the vaccinology, epidemiology in line with a whole society approach,” Steenhuisen said.
He said they were required to sign NDAs because the task team deals with vaccine matching.
“This is obviously very sensitive information that can be abused if utilised in a forum outside,” Steenhuisen said.
In response to the request for daily reports, he said that while there is a reporting or feedback loop, he doesn’t think it’s realistic to give the committee 24-hour reports.
