The Department of Veterinary Services director, Dr Kobedi Segale, said this on Monday while briefing Botswana Defence Force (BDF) commander, General Mpho Mophuting at the National Emergency Operations Centre.

“The disruption caused by the disease is severe,” Dr Segale said, adding that apart from leading to the suspension of access to European markets, the disease had also affected families and small-scale businesses that were generally not directly linked to the beef industry.

However, he said there were some positives in the response effort.  

“We continue to see cases, but there is a decline,” he said, adding that the construction of the disease containment zone fence was ongoing, as well as the vaccination campaign.

Other measures in place include movement controls, biosecurity measures, public awareness, stakeholder collaboration, border control, surveillance, and collaboration with neighbouring countries.

Dr Segale said the outbreak had shown how one member state could affect its neighbours.  

He added that the government was collaborating with South Africa, Zimbabwe and Lesotho to control the disease.

Despite the ongoing containment efforts, Dr Segale noted there were still challenges with compliance by farmers, and poor animal husbandry practices such as kraaling, herding and tagging, which often made efforts difficult.

Other challenges include cross-border human and animal movement, litigation, and a lack of interest from some farmers in fighting the disease.

He also noted that Botswana remained under suspension and was surrounded by countries with an unknown disease status, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health.  

Dr Segale said being surrounded by countries with an unknown FMD status posed a risk of transmission of the virus into the country.

He further noted that the country had committed P97 million towards fighting the disease.

General Mophuting appreciated the work done by the committee and noted that Batswana livelihoods were dependent on livestock, saying the frustration of farmers were understandable.

He stressed the need for inclusivity of all stakeholders in the fight, adding that the lesson from COVID-19 was that money was not the ultimate resource in fighting a pandemic.

“One of the first things when COVID started was the issue of money. We did not have a budget, and we realised that money is not everything,” he said.

He said it was all about devising strategies, communication, leadership quality and good coordination.

General Mophuting also advised the team that assignments of this national magnitude demanded sacrifice, devotion and commitment.

“I see the community out there volunteering, which is good,” he said, adding that community engagement was crucial to the ultimate defeat of FMD.

The technical committee chairperson, Mr Gordon Molefe, said the committee was established through a directive in January 2026 following the detection of FMD, adding that at the time they did not know how the disease would proliferate.

Mr Molefe added that they had a strategic framework that supported the response on the ground.  

He said the response had been given maximum attention, and noted that they had 21 checkpoints.

He said the community, private sector and business community were involved in the project, and because of this, the disease had been confined. ENDS