Latest news with #JohnSteenhuisen
The Citizen
3 days ago
- Health
- The Citizen
Government gains momentum in tackling foot and mouth disease
Intensified efforts to control and eradicate foot and mouth disease (FMD) are paying off. This is according to Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, who, in a statement on Wednesday, said the process of procuring vaccines through Onderstepoort Biological Products has started, and the next batch of vaccines is expected to be delivered by mid-June. The disease management areas (DMAs) in the two provinces are soon to be lifted, and an urgent order has been placed for much-needed vaccines valued at R72m. 'This marks a crucial step forward in the department's vaccination strategy. The department has provisionally costed the vaccine requirements for the 2025/2026 financial year at R1.2b, with each vaccine estimated at R100 per dose,' Steenhuisen said. Recognising the seriousness of the FMD threat, the minister said he escalated control efforts to the deputy director-general (DGG) for agricultural production, biosecurity and natural resources management, Dipepeneneng Serage, earlier this month. 'The office of the DDG has already engaged with veterinary services and various industry representatives to detail the actions required to curb the threat.' The minister highlighted that the lifting of the current DMAs in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo is imminent. In the Eastern Cape, disease management areas covering the Kouga and Kou-Kamma Municipalities have been in place since July 26, 2024. Through a robust vaccination campaign, 144 424 vaccinations were successfully administered, and the last confirmed FMD case was reported in September 2024. He added that extensive serological surveillance has found no further signs of infection. Steenhuisen confirmed that the movement restrictions in the Eastern Cape DMA will be lifted soon. Similar success has been reported in the Vhembe District in Limpopo, where a DMA was declared in September 2022 to control an FMD outbreak in dip tanks in the Vhembe Municipality. Two rounds of vaccination saw 23 024 vaccinations administered to cattle across 34 dip tanks, proving highly effective in bringing the outbreak under control. 'These positive developments highlight the effectiveness of our collaborative control measures, and the dedication of all stakeholders involved. The department remains vigilant and committed to implementing proactive strategies to safeguard animal health and the agricultural sector,' said the minister. KZN The minister reported that the DMA in KZN remains in place, since there are still signs of active virus circulation in the area. He said some outbreaks that were detected outside of the DMA were successfully contained with no sign of outward spread of the disease. 'An abattoir in the Vryheid area in the DMA is in the process of being designated to slaughter animals from premises under FMD restrictions. A system has been put in place to assess the level of biosecurity on individual farms, with the intention of aligning the control measures to the biosecurity risks,' the minister explained. Mpumalanga Meanwhile, the minister said a single outbreak was reported on a single farm in the Gert Sibande Municipality in Mpumalanga, in April, which was identified as a trace forward from an auction in KZN. 'Following one round of targeted surveillance of surrounding farms, there are no signs that this outbreak spread to any adjacent farms or other linked locations. The department has started with the second round of surveillance,' the minister said. Gauteng In addition, in Gauteng, new FMD cases have been confirmed in the West Rand and East Rand. The minister noted that an outbreak at a feedlot and adjacent farm were found to be positive in the West Rand Municipality. Initially, the outbreak was linked to an auction in Heidelberg, however follow-up epidemiological investigation indicated a different infection source. 'Veterinary services are testing adjacent premises and linked locations to determine the origin of this outbreak and possible spread.' Additional cases were detected in communal cattle in the East Rand in May. Samples were collected and FMD infection was confirmed. Epidemiological investigations have commenced to identify and test all adjacent and linked locations. Suspension of beef imports The minister announced that the People's Republic of China has suspended imports of cloven-hoofed animals and related products from South Africa due to the spread of the outbreaks in KZN to Mpumalanga and Gauteng. 'Preliminary information obtained confirmed that this suspension includes only beef from South Africa to China. The good news is that the export of wool that complies with the protocol already agreed to has not been affected,' the minister said. He has also urged livestock owners and traders to take note of the incubation period of FMD. He reminded farmers that FMD has an incubation period of up to 14 days, during which animals can appear clinically healthy, before they start showing clinical signs generally associated with FMD. 'It is crucial that newly bought animals are kept separate from the resident herd for at least 28 days, even if a health attestation was issued for the animals. The health attestation and 28-day separation have been a legal requirement since October 2022.' Biosecurity Minister Steenhuisen emphasised the importance of national co-operation in halting the spread of FMD. 'Biosecurity is everybody's responsibility. The department urges all livestock farmers in the country to limit animal movement as far as possible. 'Auctioneers and livestock owners should be vigilant when buying cloven-hoofed animals from provinces in which there are active FMD outbreaks. No cloven-hoofed animals should be accepted from areas under restriction for FMD,' said the minister. – Breaking news at your fingertips… Follow Caxton Network News on Facebook and join our WhatsApp channel. Nuus wat saakmaak. Volg Caxton Netwerk-nuus op Facebook en sluit aan by ons WhatsApp-kanaal. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Eyewitness News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
Steenhuisen says he stands by his comments that EFF should be kept out of power
CAPE TOWN - Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said he stands by everything he said during government's official visit to the White House last week, including that the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) should be kept out of power. The remarks on Thursday prompted the EFF to call on the National Assembly to condemn Steenhuisen's utterances, saying it sounded as if Steenhuisen was putting out an international hit on its leader, Julius Malema. ALSO READ: We can't have EFF occupying Union Buildings, says Steenhuisen to Trump As the spat denigrated to below the belt comments, Steenhuisen hit back, saying the EFF's poor electoral performance in 2024's polls indicated that the party is removing itself from the country's political landscape. The EFF's Thapelo Mogale has slammed President Cyril Ramaphosa for not calling out Steenhuisen on his comments made about the EFF during their meeting with President Donald Trump. Steenhuisen was responding to a video played in the Oval Office of Malema chanting the struggle song, 'Kill the Boer'. 'His words are tantamount to calling on an international inkabi to eliminate political competition.' But in response, Steenhuisen repeated last week's remarks in Parliament that the EFF should not be allowed to reach the seat of power, calling it a party of chaos and corruption. 'I stand absolutely 100% by everything I said in the White House. That door must remain shut, and it must remain shut permanently. We don't need to call on foreign governments to get rid of the EFF, they are doing that all on their own.' The EFF's Sihle Lonzi then took a potshot at Steenhuisen's romantic past, but Steenhuisen was unmoved. 'I've learnt in politics long enough that the only people who worry about what goes on in other people's bedrooms, have nothing going on in their own.' The EFF said the United States has a history of interfering in the elections of foreign nations and Steenhuisen has opened the door to the same in South Africa.
India Gazette
5 days ago
- Politics
- India Gazette
"Pakistan has been behaving and acting like a rogue state": Manish Tewari in South Africa
Johannesburg [South Africa], May 29 (ANI): Congress leader Manish Tewari, who is part of the all-party delegation visiting key capitals including South Africa as part of Modi government's big diplomatic outreach said on Thursday that Pakistan has been behaving and acting like a 'rogue state'. He also stated that the delegation during their visit to South Africa conveyed the need to isolate states using terorrism as an instrument of state policy, in an apprent reference to Pakistan. 'African National Congress and India have a long-standing relationship which is underpinned by the mutual respect for Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. The Indian delegation very clearly conveyed it to the African National Congress, our interlocutors, that there is a need to isolate those states which use terrorism as an instrument of state policy...,' he told ANI He also said that Pakistan sponsored terorism has been creating 'instability' in Aghanistan and Iran as well. 'We also sensitised them about the fact that it is not only India which has been hit for the past 4.5 decades by terrorism being sponsored from Pakistan. Pakistan has been creating instability in Afghanistan and Iran. Pakistan has been behaving and acting like a rogue state, now going back many decades... The African National Congress expressed its solidarity, saying that they will not be a party, and will not, in any manner, endorse a state which uses terror as an instrument of state policy...,' Tewari added. Earlier today, John Steenhuisen, Federal Leader and Minister of Agriculture of South Africa extended support to India in its fight against terrorism and said that it is important for democracies to stand together, united against terror. 'India bought a very important message to South Africa today. We condemn the use of terror anywhere in the world, and it is important for democracies to stand together, united against terror... Any measures to counter terrorism need to be welcomed. As democracies, we need to find ways to combat terror globally... India is a very important strategic partner for South Africa as both are members of the BRICS,' John Steenhuisen told reporters. Steenhuisen's comment came after a meeting with the NCP-SCP leader Supriya Sule-led delegation in Cape Town. Speaking to ANI after the meeting, Supriya Sule said, 'We held detailed discussions. They promised to stand with India. The G-20 Summit is going to be held here. India has deep bilateral relations with South Africa.' Sule-led delegation held talks with Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) of South Africa along with Members of the Parliament of South Africa and conveyed India's stance on combating terrorism. In a post on X, India's High Commission in Pretoria stated, 'Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Province (NCOP) of South Africa, P (Les) Govender, along with other Members of the Parliament of South Africa, met All-Party Parliamentary Delegation, MPs from India at the National Council of Provinces of South Africa. Delegation members explained the background of terrorist incidents in India, including the Pahalgam Attack, and conveyed India's united message of Zero tolerance for terrorism.' The members of the delegation are Members of Parliament Supriya Sule, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Vikramjeet Singh Sahney, Manish Tewari, Anurag Singh Thakur, Lavu Sri Krishna devarayalu, Anand Sharma, former Minister of Commerce & Industry, V Muraleedharan, Former Minister of State for External Affairs, and Syed Akbaruddin, Former Permanent. Representative of India to the UN. On April 22, terrorists killed 26 people, including a Nepalese national in Baisaran valley in the popular tourist destination of Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir. India launched 'Operation Sindoor' on May 7 in response to the attack, which targeted terror bases and led to the death of over 100 terrorists affiliated with terror outfits like the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen. (ANI).
Mail & Guardian
6 days ago
- Business
- Mail & Guardian
GNU cabinet: Too many chiefs, not enough service
DA leader John Steenhuisen and ANC leader and South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa. The government of national unity has 43 deputy ministers. If that number was trimmed, R100 million a year could be saved. Photo: GCIS In a time of service delivery failures, South Africa must take a hard look at its executive. Not just the quality of leadership but the sheer quantity of members. At a time when citizens are told to tighten their belts, and government departments are urged to cut spending, the executive branch remains bloated, inefficient and largely shielded from scrutiny. With the Each deputy minister earns more than R2 million a year, plus travel allowances, housing and VIP protection, yet they carry no constitutional executive authority. They are not members of the cabinet and cannot stand in for ministers unless the president appoints a sitting minister to act in a colleague's absence. The constitutional provision (section 93) clearly states that deputy ministers exist only to assist ministers — which often means reading speeches, attending ceremonial events and occupying symbolic roles during outreach initiatives. This raises the question — why are South Africans paying The cabinet appointments have amplified this contradiction. Many of the 43 deputies appointed in July 2024 are not technocrats but rather political appointees, placed to appease alliance partners and opposition factions — not to drive service delivery. The minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs, for instance, now has two deputies, despite municipalities being largely in financial ruin, with 66 out of 257 municipalities deemed dysfunctional by the auditor general. This redundancy of roles is not only expensive, it is unjustifiable in the face of mounting austerity. The auditor general's 2023-24 Municipal Finance Management Act report highlights R22 billion in irregular expenditure, most of it from departments overseen by ministers with deputies. If anything, the proliferation of deputies has correlated with increased mismanagement, not improved outcomes. This is not an isolated critique. In 2015, then president Jacob Zuma appointed a similarly oversized cabinet — 35 ministers and 37 deputy ministers — attracting widespread criticism. Even then, commentators noted that countries with larger populations and GDPs, such as China (20 ministers) and Russia (23 ministers), operated more efficiently with leaner executives. So what exactly do South African deputy ministers do? There is no legally binding list of responsibilities for deputy ministers. They are not assigned key performance indicators in the same way that In fact, many remain largely invisible until public scandals or parliamentary debates put them in the spotlight. One notorious example was the 2013 revelation that then deputy minister of agriculture, Bheki Cele, had racked up hundreds of thousands in travel claims without attending a single provincial outreach session. And when they're not invisible, they're interchangeable. Deputy ministers are reshuffled frequently — with few, if any, consequences tied to performance. In the July 2024 cabinet reshuffle, more than a dozen deputy ministers were retained or reappointed despite having little public record of being effective. This creates deadweight politics — where individuals are paid handsomely to exist in government without contributing meaningfully to its function. It's not that all deputy ministers are ineffectual. Some work hard behind the scenes. But without transparency, reporting or structured oversight, we cannot separate the active from the idle. The National Development Plan calls for a professionalised public service, where merit and delivery are prioritised over political accommodation. The current system of deputy ministers flies in the face of this ideal. Moreover, at the provincial level, governments function without deputy members of executive councils. Departments are managed by one MEC and a team of civil servants. So why not replicate this model nationally? The government's own spending reviews have previously flagged the costs of the executive. In 2020, the Cutting deputy ministers might not fix South Africa's budget deficit overnight, but it sends a powerful signal — we are serious about governance reform. We are serious about performance. We are serious about value for money. It would also strengthen the credibility of the government in the eyes of citizens, who are increasingly disillusioned. According to the 2023 Afrobarometer survey, only 23% of South Africans trust the president to do what is right. Among young people, this number is even lower. When people protest over poor service delivery, they don't demand more deputies. They demand water, sanitation, jobs — and leaders who show up, account and deliver. The existence of 43 deputy ministers, many of whom are redundant, sends a clear message — the state exists to serve political interests first, public interests second. It doesn't have to be this way. The Constitution gives the president full discretion over whether to appoint deputy ministers. There is no legal obligation to do so. If President Cyril Ramaphosa wants to lead a truly efficient and ethical GNU, he must start by trimming the fat. A smaller, smarter cabinet is not a political risk, it's a governance necessity. Cutting down on deputy ministers is not just about saving R100 million annually, it's about restoring the integrity of the executive. It's about showing citizens that the government will lead by example. It's about building a leaner state capable of delivery, not just diplomacy. South Africa deserves a cabinet that works — not one that coasts. Dr Lesedi Senamele Matlala is a public policy and digital governance lecturer at the University of Johannesburg, at the School of Public Management, Governance and Public Policy.
India Gazette
6 days ago
- Politics
- India Gazette
"We condemn use of terror", says South Africa Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen
Cape Town [South Africa], May 29 (ANI): John Steenhuisen, Federal Leader and Minister of Agriculture of South Africa, on Wednesday (local time) extended support to India in its fight against terrorism and said that it is important for democracies to stand together, united against terror. 'India bought a very important message to South Africa today. We condemn the use of terror anywhere in the world, and it is important for democracies to stand together, united against terror... Any measures to counter terrorism need to be welcomed. As democracies, we need to find ways to combat terror globally... India is a very important strategic partner for South Africa as both are members of the BRICS,' John Steenhuisen told reporters. Steenhuisen's comment came after a meeting with the NCP-SCP leader Supriya Sule-led delegation in Cape Town. Speaking to ANI after the meeting, Supriya Sule said, 'We held detailed discussions. They promised to stand with India. The G-20 Summit is going to be held here. India has deep bilateral relations with South Africa.' Earlier in the day, Sule-led delegation held talks with Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) of South Africa along with Members of the Parliament of South Africa and conveyed India's stance on combating terrorism. The delegation members explained the background of terrorist attacks in India, including the April 22 Phalgam terror attack. In a post on X, India's High Commission in Pretoria stated, 'Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Province (NCOP) of South Africa, P (Les) Govender, along with other Members of the Parliament of South Africa, met All-Party Parliamentary Delegation, MPs from India at the National Council of Provinces of South Africa. Delegation members explained the background of terrorist incidents in India, including the Pahalgam Attack, and conveyed India's united message of Zero tolerance for terrorism.' The members of the delegation are Members of Parliament Supriya Sule, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Vikramjeet Singh Sahney, Manish Tewari, Anurag Singh Thakur, Lavu Sri Krishna devarayalu, Anand Sharma, former Minister of Commerce & Industry, V Muraleedharan, Former Minister of State for External Affairs, and Syed Akbaruddin, Former Permanent. Representative of India to the UN. (ANI)
