Court sets new deadline for Agri Minister and adds punitive cost order
The Pretoria High Court “reluctantly” granted the Minister a final extension to publish his section 10 scheme by 5 May.
The Minister of Agriculture, John Steenhuisen, and his officials today again undermined the urgent legal proceedings against their obstruction of private foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine procurement and administration.
The delay tactics found no favour with the court, and stringent new court deadlines have now been imposed:
The court ordered the Minister to publish his (now delayed) section 10 scheme by 5 May 2026.
The court set the matter down for argument on 11 May 2026 on the urgent interdict application by Sakeliga, SAAI, and Free State Agriculture against the government’s obstruction of private FMD measures.
Despite the widespread distress of farmers, agribusinesses, and animals affected by FMD, the Minister, his Director-General, and the Director of Animal Health sought the court’s permission to postpone the hearing until 2 June 2026. The court did not grant this, and explicitly criticised the Minister and fellow respondents for their lethargic conduct, observing:
"(The foot and mouth disease outbreak) is a matter that was announced by government to be of national importance and a national emergency. It appears as though (the Minister) and the second and third respondents are no longer considering it to be of such importance…"
The Pretoria High Court then “reluctantly” granted the Minister a final extension to publish his section 10 scheme by 5 May 2026. In a sign of the court’s displeasure, it granted a punitive cost order on an attorney-and-client scale.
Minister Steenhuisen has now missed many deadlines. Among others, these include his December 2025 commitment to produce a section 10 scheme in January 2026, his Director-General’s commitment under oath that the scheme would be signed by the Minister immediately after 24 March 2026, the initial court-ordered deadline of 17 April 2026, and his own public undertaking to publish his envisaged section 10 scheme by 24 April 2026.
Litigation continues
Sakeliga, SAAI, and Free State Agriculture will proceed with our litigation and prepare for the hearing on 11 May 2026.
Our position remains that there is no impediment in law to privately administering lawfully obtained FMD vaccines. Our litigation seeks to remove the unlawful impediments maintained by the Minister, as well as to prevent unlawful government interference with private importation of approved vaccines. The Minister's continued fumbling with a voluntary section 10 scheme is no answer to the relief sought.
While the Minister persists with his attempt to uphold a government monopoly and resist a parallel private FMD vaccination track, farmers continue to bear losses that the state has neither the will nor the means to prevent.
The Minister’s unlawful obstruction of additional private-sector measures that should already have been deployed at scale and at no cost to the state should be brought to an end.
