17 Feb 2026

Livestock products such as UHT milk, pasteurised milk, sour milk and some cooked products are not affected by the movement restrictions on products from cloven hooved animals due to the recent outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in Botswana.

According to the National coordinator of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), Dr Bernard Mbeha, moving the mentioned products across FMD control zones is not a violation of the current restrictions imposed by government last month.

“Basically, the restrictions cover cloven hooved animals, products from those animals like skins, hides, fresh milk, meat, bones, cattle feed, and dikgole as they have the potential of spreading the disease,” Dr Mbeha told the North East District Council (NEDC) special meeting on Friday.

Dr Mbeha also shed light on donkey meat, saying it could not be moved through zones because of the lengthy process of verifying through testing whether it was indeed donkey meat.

Dr Mbeha said people have also asked whether firewood, thatching grass, sand, gravel and other aggregates were also not affected by the restrictions. He however said those items could not transmit the FMD virus, since it only survived for about three minutes outside the body of an animal, and were therefore not affected by the restrictions.

He said restrictions and checks at disease control checkpoints would remain heavier in Zones 6b, 3c, 3b, 6a and Zone 7, where searching and fumigation were being conducted rigorously to prevent the possible spread of FMD to disease-free areas.

“The controls are concentrated mainly on zones in the North East District and in Bobonong, Tonota, Tutume, Nata and the rest of the Zones 6 up to Thalamabele Gate,” he said.

Dr Mbeha stressed that the whole country was still locked because some animals were still moving from Zone 6b, where FMD outbreak was detected, to other parts of the country.

“These includes Masunga, Tutume, Lobatse, Palapye, Letlhakane and Selebi Phikwe,” he said, explaining that the Department of Veterinary Services was still tracing the livestock in question to examine it for possible FMD infection.

He highlighted that the examination of animals that have been moved into Zone 6a was yet to be conducted as farmers were reluctant to bring their animals over, adding that their lack of cooperation delayed the process which was targeted for completion last week.

He nonetheless stated that once the process was eventually completed, the Director of Veterinary Services would make a decision regarding whether the movement restrictions could be relaxed.

He however said surveillance exercise would continue in Zone 3b, 3c, 6a, 6b and Zone 7 to try and determine how far the disease had spread.

On the other hand, he updated the meeting about vaccination of cattle, saying at Zone 6b covering the Matsiloje area, the turnout for vaccination was low with 4,000 of the expected about 6,000 cattle having been vaccinated.

He said after the completion of the primary vaccination, a booster vaccination would follow after 28 days to ensure that the disease was exterminated.

Themashanga councillor Mr Kudzani Tobokwani called for the education of officers manning the disease control gates on items prohibited to cross from FMD suspected zones, as they disallowed and confiscated items not covered by the restrictions such as peanuts and ice-cream. BOPA