Cattle worth E1,296m hit by FMD after border E8.5m funds diverted

By Vuyisile Hlatshwayo

The cross-border foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak, which began in mid-May 2025 and has spread across the Shiselweni and Lubombo regions, has cost eSwatini taxpayers an unbudgeted E38 million—almost five times the initial investment. This massive expense and the subsequent closure of the nation’s lucrative meat market could have been prevented. An Inhlase investigation found the crisis is rooted in the Ministry of Agriculture’s 2020 decision to divert E8.5 million allocated for fixing and maintaining vital border fences.

Dilapidated border fences are the primary entry point for the disease. Reporter visits by Inhlase found that cattle from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa’s FMD epicentre, are mingling freely with eSwatini cattle in shared grazing areas. Deputy Director of Livestock Services, Luyanda Khumalo, confirmed the ministry did not use the E8.5 million allocated in the 2020/21 financial year under Project A400 (Cordon Fencing). He stated the funds were diverted to the COVID-19 emergency.

“When the COVID-19 lockdown was declared that year, the funds could not be utilised. The funds were re-allocated to address the emergency,” Khumalo disclosed. He further explained that subsequent reductions in project allocations meant the limited fencing materials procured only covered a short distance of the border.

For emaSwati, cattle are more than a source of wealth and sustenance; they confer status and are essential for traditional ceremonies like lobola (bride price). The FMD outbreak therefore threatens livelihoods across the country. Following the outbreak, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and the European Union (EU) have imposed a meat trade ban on eSwatini, devastating the national meat industry.

Khumalo highlighted the severe financial impact, particularly the loss of the European Union (EU) market, where eSwatini beef enjoyed preferential tariff-free access under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). In 2023, the country exported bovine meat worth an estimated E24 million to the EU and Southern African markets. According to the Department of Veterinary and Livestock Services Animal Production Report 2024, eSwatini exported 79,329.18kg of chilled beef and 284,276.06 kg of frozen beef to Norway, compared to 18,242 kg of chilled beef exported to Taiwan. 

“FMD can disrupt the entire value chain,” Khumalo noted, explaining that movement restrictions, reduced animal productivity, and limited market access have impacted food security, driven up food prices, and caused job losses across the country.

Fear of Losing Livelihoods

Feedlot Association secretary, Phiwayinkhosi Ginindza, echoed these fears, predicting the potential shutdown of the 296 affiliated feedlot enterprises. He lamented not only the loss of markets, but the movement restrictions imposed across the southern and eastern parts of the country. Ginindza added: “We can’t import from neighbouring countries due to the same outbreak, to manage the consistent supply of red meat. The industry will eventually see feedlot enterprises shut down due to these challenges.”

The government’s belated E38 million response to the crisis includes an expenditure of E8,556,128.18—almost exactly the amount diverted in 2020—to procure 188,800 doses of the FMD vaccine, the deputy director confirmed.

Broken Fences

Inhlase undertook a borderline tour to unravel the cause of the FMD outbreaks from the south of Shiselweni to the east of Lubombo. The starting point was the Mahlabatsini area in Shiselweni, which borders Itshelejuba Settlement in the Pongola area, KwaZulu-Natal. This reporter found that the border fence in the remote and excluded areas was in disrepair, cut and broken in certain parts of the borderline. 

A Mahlabatsini resident, who preferred to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisal from cattle rustlers, took this reporter to a far-flung area where there was either a broken fence or no fence at all. He found Itshelejuba cattle grazing in Mahlababatsini. The SA cattle did not have the distinctive ear-tags and branded dip-tank numbers like those of eSwatini.

Down the Mtjolobela River valley lies the fenceless route for cattle rustlers, taking stolen cattle via Itshelejuba to auction sales in KwaZulu-Natal. Recently, SABC reported that Thami Ntuli, the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, warned cattle rustlers and car thieves in Jozini, under the uMkhanyakude District Municipality, in a community meeting to stop smuggling eSwatini cattle into KwaZulu-Natal.

A Mkhwakhweni resident, who preferred anonymity, confirmed that the mingling of Mkhwakhweni and Pongola livestock in the grazing lands was a cause of FMD. He slammed the government for dragging its feet on fixing the border fence as a preventive measure against FMD, which is prevalent in the nearby Pongola in KwaZulu-Natal. Following the mid-May detection of the first animal with FMD at the Sikhwebezi Dip-Tank in the area, the Department of Veterinary and Livestock Services vaccinated 53,966 cattle across 10 dip-tanks in Shiselweni. However, only 44,722 cattle returned for the second dose, leaving 9,244 cattle unvaccinated.

Condemned to Poverty

The next stop was the Lavumisa area, which is not unfamiliar with wildlife incursions from Harloo Game Reserve across the border. Interviewed Nquthu resident Thokozani Mbhamali singled out stray wildlife as the source of FMD rather than cattle mingling in the grazing lands. He mentioned buffaloes, elands, warthogs and hyenas spotted wandering in the area. He described them as FMD carriers. He, however, sighed in relief that their cattle had been vaccinated following the FMD outbreak in the Mkhwakhweni area in mid-May.

“The warthogs burrow their way under the fence to get out of the game reserve. Our cries have fallen on deaf ears as the local authorities and the owner of the game reserve across the border have done nothing about it,” the Nquthu resident lamented.

Living in an FMD-restricted area, Mbhamali complained about the trade ban that has plunged the community into poverty. He bemoaned that it would not be lifted anytime soon, given the spread of the FMD outbreak to the other Lubombo areas. He further lamented that the community was facing an overlooked human-wildlife conflict.

Another resident, Masenteni Gina, echoed his concerns: “We rely on our livestock for a living, but we have a problem because our area was declared an FMD red zone. We’re unable to sell our cattle to the market. We don’t have money to buy food, pay medical bills, and cover our children’s school fees. We used to sell our cattle to generate income. Worse still, we can’t accept cattle as our daughters’ lobola. The FMD ban has condemned us to poverty.”

Skipped Dosage

In September, the FMD spread to the other Lubombo areas, including Lubuli, Mambane, Malindza, Mpaka, Matsetsa and Ka-Ndzangu. The privately-owned cattle farms of Richmond, Orbaland, and Nduma were not spared. Khumalo revealed that a total of 46,952 cattle from Lubuli, Mambane and surrounding areas had received the first dose of FMD vaccine, while only 44,505 had received the second dose. But he noted that the farmers did not bring back 2,347 cattle for the second vaccination. He added that the vaccination of 28,588 cattle at Mpaka and Matsetsa was ongoing at the time of publication.                     

The government’s containment efforts are hampered by farmers’ non-compliance. Khumalo revealed that out of the cattle receiving the first dose in Shiselweni and Lubombo, 11,511 were not returned for the second dose, creating a dangerous gap in immunity. Khumalo condemned the farmers’ failure to prioritize animal health and the livelihoods dependent on the meat industry, specifically criticizing those who do not kraal their cattle but only gather them for dipping days.

Khumalo urged communities along the border to stop vandalizing the fences. However, an unemployed young man in the Lavumisa area countered that the ministry fuels the vandalism: locally unemployed youth resent it when contracting companies bring in outside workers for the menial fencing jobs.

Repeat of History

In the north-east of eSwatini, residents of Lomahasha and Shewula are in a panic after a buffalo strayed into the area from the nearby game reserve in Mozambique in July. They feared history repeating itself after the government once culled 2,300 herds infected with FMD, following the arrival of two buffaloes from Mozambique in the 2000-2001 period. Reached for comment, Dr Xolani Dlamini, the now-retired Director of Veterinary and Livestock Services, told Inhlase that his department asked the Big Game Parks management to put it down and burn it after its FMD tests came out positive.

Interviewed Shewula cattle farmer Majuba Mabila expressed the community’s fear of the imminent FMD outbreak following the latest outbreak in the Ka-Ndzangu area in the Lubombo region. He pointed out that the eSwatini-Mozambique border fence was in a state of disrepair. He feared that their cattle, often smuggled into Mozambique, risked coming back infected with FMD, given that Mozambique is not among the FMD-free countries.

Despite getting Indvuna Bheji Masimula’s permission to tour the fence, this journalist, accompanied by Mabila and two female community development members, was blocked by the Umbutfu Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) at the border patrol camp. The soldier-in-charge refused to allow us to proceed to the broken border fence. He turned back this journalist to seek permission from the army personnel operating the Maphiveni cordon line, about 20 km away.

Little did he know that Masimula and four community members had already painted a graphic picture of the eSwatini-Mozambique border fence in disrepair. They told Inhlase that they were unhappy that the ministry was repairing the fence in the Sitsatsaweni area, which is home to private cattle farms.

With a total of 11,911 cattle not given the second dose in the infected Shiselweni and Lubombo areas and illegal movement or smuggling of cattle from infected to non-infected areas, the eSwatini battle to stop the spread of cross-border FMD is far from over.