Corruption and crime: A recipe for food insecurity in South Africa

As much as I do not want to add another voice to the fiasco at the recent White House meeting between Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa it is a starting point for an article about how corruption, crime and food security end up in a concoction of another disaster for the citizens of the country.

Ramaphosa stated, in defense of farm murder and genocide accusations that it is not a unique situation as South Africa has a serious problem with crime at all levels. All crime victims and citizens will agree with that statement, although it is the last thing foreign investors want to hear who at consider us as an investment destination.

On August, 27, 2024 Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuizen launched a forensic audit into a R500 million Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) project.  OBP, which was founded in 2000, is a state-owned animal vaccine manufacturing entity whose primary mandate is to manufacture animal vaccines. The Auditor General revealed that a substantial portion of a grant given to OBP in 2013 was unspent and unaccounted for. They further highlighted that OBP is not following basic auditing standards. It is a problem at  other state entities. A similar case is that of the Road Accident Fund, which refuses to adhere to the instruction from the Auditor General.

According to Steenhuisen he is concerned about the OBP project, which has been given R500 million to revamp the facility, as “A large part of the R500 million went missing and is unaccounted for.” Former Minister of Agriculture Thoko Didiza stated that, “A forensic report on the utilisation of some of the funds was done, and it enabled the OBP to take some of the concerns of sub-contracting to the Special Investigative Unit.”

But this is nothing new. In 2022 vaccine shortages were threatening herd immunity in the livestock due to the outbreak of foot and Mouth disease (FMD). During this period OBP dismissed Dr Baptiste Dungu as its CEO.

Dungu, who was appointed in 2019, was accused of corruption and had been on a precautionary suspension up until his dismissal. Investigation into allegations revealed evidence of “various alleged transgressions including, (but not limited to) allowing or instigating irregular procurement procedures, dishonesty and mismanagement in contravention of OBP’s policies and the laws of the Republic of South Africa.”

According to Food for Mnzanzi, “Dungu was dogged by scandal from the start of his tenure. A Congolese national, he was found not to have passed the minimum security standards required for the role. He was also previously employed by the company, up until 2008, but was said to have left under suspicion of using company trade secrets for his own business.”

Current FMD crisis

In the past four weeks news broke of the outbreak of FMD in beef livestock farms. FMD is a highly contagious illness affecting animals. Livestock farmers warned they may soon go out of business if the government does not support those affected by the preventative measures for FMD. Onderstepoort, however, does not have vaccines available. The disease is not new in South Africa.

During the FMD outbreak in 2021, measures taken included the prohibition of slaughtering and transporting livestock. South Africa has a cattle herd of approximately 12.3 million according to Statista and the country that comes to our rescue for vaccines is Botswana with a cattle herd of only 2.3 million. The total cattle population in Ethiopia is a staggering 70 million. South Africa, however, is the largest producers of red meat at 1 038.7 metric tonnes of beef, which is more than double that of Ethiopia.

Although the most affected provinces were KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Eastern Cape, the latest news was that the disease was also detected at Karan Beef, South Africa’s largest feedlot owner. At their Heidelberg feedlot Karan Beef has as many as 150 000 head of cattle. Although the disease seems to have affected only 2% of the animals the disease is so highly contagious that it may well spread quickly.

The livestock industry contributes about 50% of the agricultural gross domestic product and its hugely important export activities can easily be jeopardised by vaccination shortages.

According to Zipho Linda, OBP’s communications specialist, vaccine supply challenges have been with the entity for the past ten years, “due to equipment breakdown. Equipment is aged and is currently being replaced.”

Before Minister Steenhuizen arrived as the new Minister the problems have been highlighted and brought to the attention of thegovernment. Representatives of the National Animal Health Forum (NAHF) highlighted the dangers of inconsistent vaccine availability in a meeting with former minister Didiza. This included the threat to national herd immunity, food security, income security and the threat of zoonosis, which is the passing of animal diseases on to humans.

Daybreak

The above crises come in addition to the current Daybreak chicken farm scandal. The Public Invesment Corporation (PIC)has once again not ensured that a proper due diligence was conducted in their acquisition of 100% the broiler farm for purposes of empowering Black farmers. They allowed untrained and unskilled workers to underfeed the 490 000 birds and they allowed inhumane culling practices to take place. As many as 350 000 birds had to be culled. It needs the intervention of the SPCA to bring a court order to halt the transgressions. No one was arrested for the disaster that shames the whole country and we are yet to see accountability from the PIC that squander pensioners money in this manner.

Soon these disasters will not be other people’s money or other people’s cattle it will be the entire nation that will pay the price of food insecurity.

Corrie Kruger is an independent analyst.

*** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or IOL.

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