Steenhuisen fires FMD whistleblower

On February 10th 2026, John Steenhuisen, South Africa’s minister of agriculture, terminated the membership of Danie Odendaal, a ruminant veterinary specialist, from the Ministerial Task Team on Controlled Diseases.

Odendaal also founded the Livestock Health and Production Review Magazine and contributes to publications like Veeplaas.Previously, he chaired the Ruminant Veterinary Association of South Africa (RuVASA) and served on the South African Veterinary Council.

Odendaal argued this exclusion of private-sector input worsened the outbreak, contributing to what the programme described as the worst animal welfare emergency in living memory amid bureaucratic delays and state vaccine controls.

The letter, signed by the minister himself, cited Dr Odendaal’s failure to sign an Impartiality and Confidentiality Declaration as the reason. It stated:

“I have been informed by my Department that you have, as to date, not signed the required Declaration, which is indeed disappointing.”

The declaration requires members to “refrain from any activity that may compromise their integrity or create a conflict with their roles and responsibilities on the Task Team”.

The dismissal comes three days after Dr Odendaal published a detailed critique on social media of the government’s handling of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). In that post, dated February 7th, he described the recent announcement of a supposedly new FMD vaccine as “not a breakthrough” but “a national shame”.

He continued: “This vaccine is not new. It was researched and developed from 2010 by a team of researchers, including two Dutch specialists, at the Agricultural Research Council’s Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute at great cost (financed by the taxpayer) and then four years ago in 2022 fully registered as a vaccine in South Africa.”

Dr Odendaal argued that delays in scaling production had allowed outbreaks to spiral. He wrote:

“Had this vaccine been licensed and manufactured on scale by a contract manufacturer when it was registered, South Africa could have controlled the outbreak in 2022… The consequence was the worst animal health and welfare disaster in our lifetime, which cost farmers billions of rand, destroyed livelihoods and caused immeasurable suffering to animals.”

He noted that the public was now offered only 12 000 doses while 14m doses every six months would be needed to regain control, calling the presentation a “gross failure of duty – a betrayal of public trust, of animal welfare and of the farmers who feed this nation”.

The broader context is an FMD outbreak that has exposed persistent failures in state veterinary capacity. Private-sector involvement in vaccination has been restricted, prompting legal challenges. As reported earlier this month, agricultural organisations threatened litigation after the minister declined to clarify the legal basis for prohibiting private procurement and administration of FMD vaccines.

The groups argued that no statutory impediment existed, yet received no substantive response by the deadline. Criticism of the minister’s approach has mounted. Measures including prolonged lockdowns and reliance on a single state-linked production contract have been described as favouring large operators at the expense of smaller farmers.

The outbreak has also raised concerns over regional food security, particularly beef supplies in provinces distant from the main affected areas.

Dr Odendaal’s removal from the task team removes a vocal private-sector voice at a time when state monopoly over disease control faces sustained challenge. No public response from the minister or department to Dr Odendaal’s specific allegations has yet appeared, though updates on their position will be reported on soon.