Compensation offer gets quarantined farmer’s goat
APPIE Viviers feels like a prisoner on his own farm.
With his livestock under quarantine since March due to an outbreak of disease, Viviers is unable to sell, move or slaughter them.
This means no income and starving animals due to overgrazing.
“This is a disaster for me, my workers and my animals,” said Viviers, who owns Boeteka Farm near Beaufort West.
“I farm goats, cows, sheep and game and these need to be sold regularly, otherwise the numbers will overrun the farm. And because I have no income, I cannot afford to buy feed,” he said.
A worker on the farm, Marius Pettinger, fell ill in January with what appeared to be brucellosis, also known as Malta fever.
It mainly affects livestock, but can be transmitted to humans. It can be fatal for humans if not diagnosed and treated early.
When an outbreak is discovered, infected animals are destroyed immediately and the farmer is compensated by the government for his losses.
This process usually takes a month or two, but in Viviers’s case it is taking much longer because of inconclusive tests and a dispute over the amount of compensation.
Viviers’s wife Marietjie contracted the disease in January last year.
“[She] became extremely ill. She suffered lower back pain and could hardly walk,” Viviers said. “We went to several doctors, who were baffled. Eventually a friend of ours, a medical doctor, suggested we test for brucellosis and it came back positive.”
Marietjie was put on antibiotics for three months.
“So when Marius complained of the same thing this year, I rushed him to the doctor and asked for the brucellosis test. It came back positive and I called the vets,” Viviers said.
The disease has been detected in some of the goats, cows and sheep on the farm.
The Western Cape department of agriculture said tests were continuing to determine which animals were infected and which strain of the bacteria was involved.
“If confirmed, the vets could instruct that the entire herd be slaughtered. However, after five months the results remained inconclusive,” Western Cape agriculture MEC Alan Winde said.
“In the interests of the region’s agriculture sector, the province’s veterinary services lodged a submission to assist the farmer to slaughter all goats and sheep at an abattoir that is equipped and suitable to handle infected material.”
But Viviers is upset about the compensation offer.
“They want to give me about R130 000 for the loss of about 900 goats, 300 cows and other animals. That is an absurd amount,” he said.
The department said neighbouring farms had been tested and found to be clear of the disease.