Veterinary fences in southern Africa
Veterinary fences in southern Africa are fences designed to separate farm animals that are disease free and those that are not disease free. They can be found mainly in Namibia and Botswana , but also Zimbabwe and are colloquially referred to as the “red line”. In general, the transport of meat and other animal products over these fences into the disease-free areas is prohibited.
Namibia
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The fences of the “ Police Zone ” established at the beginning of the 20th century could be seen as a predecessor, but they provided for a control of people.
Red line
The fence runs from the coast in the west to the east to and along the border with Botswana . It was conceived shortly after an outbreak of rinderpest in 1897, it was finally erected in the mid-1960s and has existed - in large parts - to this day.
Its aim is to prevent the uncontrolled movement of meat, livestock and animal products from north to south. In 1961, when there was a strong foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in northern Namibia, the fence was reinforced again. Up until the end of apartheid with Namibia's independence in 1990, but also during the German colonial era , the fence had another function: it made it easier for the tribes living in northern Namibia to be kept away from the otherwise “white” Namibia, the police zone . So this “red line” came in very handy for the South Africans to implement their homeland policy and until 1977 no Ovambo was allowed to cross this border without a permit (e.g. in the form of an employment contract ).
Although the passages at the veterinary fence are partially monitored to this day, there is no additional control, let alone maintenance. For this reason there is hardly anything left of the veterinary fence, especially in western Namibia. In addition, there is still no "real" border with Angola in the north, apart from the "natural borders", i.e. the Kunene and the Okavango . All animals that were kept north of the fence and moved to the south must be quarantined for 21 days today before they are allowed to be slaughtered. All products south of the fence are approved for export to the European Union and other regions. In 2010, the Namibian government wanted to abolish the entire veterinary fence, which was ultimately not carried out.
In this regard, various approaches, such as a gradual shift of the fence north to the Angolan border, were discussed intensively beforehand. Any undertaking ultimately turned out to be impracticable. One of the main reasons for this is still the fact that large numbers of cattle still cross the Namibian-Angolan border largely uncontrolled, be it due to a shortage of pastures in the densely populated north of Namibia or for marketing purposes. Since in Angola, which has only been pacified for a few years, there is still no veterinary infrastructure comparable to Namibian conditions , it must continue to be assumed that animal diseases will spread across borders.
Today (as of 2008) there are already more than a million cattle north of the fence, which may not be formally marketed without prior quarantine and are therefore mainly used on site in northern Namibia for meat.
The veterinary fence also separates the two different agricultural use systems in Namibia. To the south of the fence are mainly private commercial farms that have been surveyed and registered as private property in the Namibian land register. There is also communal farmland here. To the north of the veterinary fence are the traditional communal areas that are publicly owned. On the basis of the Communal Land Reform Act, 2002 , free rights of use can be registered in municipal areas for areas of up to 50 hectares, which have the character of a usufructuary right . For commercial use (e.g. for tourism through lodges ), areas of up to 100 ha can be leased.
Since 2018 there has been intensive discussion about moving the fence to the northern border with Angola.
More fences
In addition to the north-south dividing fence, there are other veterinary fences, in particular as a border fence to the east of neighboring Botswana.
Botswana
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There are numerous veterinary fences in Botswana, with the entire country being divided into so-called control zones by veterinary fences. In this way, an attack by economically important animal diseases on the entire country should be made impossible from the outset. Nevertheless, most veterinary fences are still concentrated in the north of the country, where the risk of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease is considered to be greatest, as there is a large, naturally occurring buffalo population that is a long-term carrier of the pathogen, without to get sick from it myself. There is also a veterinary and border fence in a north-south direction along the national border with Namibia. Probably the longest veterinary fence Botswana is called the Buffalo Fence (dt. Buffalo fence ) that the land south of the Okavango Delta runs through from west to east.
The Makgadikgadi Boteti Fence is one of the newest veterinary fences in Botswana. When the Boteti River , which had previously prevented the contact between livestock and game as a natural boundary , began to dry up in the early 1990s, it was decided to build a veterinary fence in the middle of the dried-out river bed to maintain this boundary . In this way, on the one hand, water holes accessible to livestock were created and, on the other hand, water sources were maintained for the game. In general, Botswana has very strict controls and offenses are punished. The foot and mouth disease outbreak is a common problem in Botswana. There were outbreaks of foot and mouth disease there in 1934, 1945, 1961 and 1964, each of which spread to Namibia and of which the epidemic of 1961 caused by far the greatest economic damage. In addition, there were serious outbreaks of lung disease in cattle in Botswana in 1932 and 1937 , which also invaded Namibian territory every time.
Zimbabwe
The border between Botswana and Zimbabwe is also a veterinary fence. Zimbabwe itself is divided into four zones by a total of around 4500 km of fence for the control of animal diseases: The "infected zones" correspond to the national parks, in which there are correspondingly many wild animals and thus potential pathogens. The “vaccination zones”, in which farm animals are vaccinated against the diseases that can potentially be transmitted by wild animals, are directly adjacent to these “infected zones”. The so-called “buffer zones” border the “vaccination zones”, which in turn include the “export zones” within which animal products can be produced for export to Europe.
Web links
literature
- Giorgio Miescher: The Red Line. History of the Veterinary and Settlement Boundaries in Namibia, 1890s – 1960s . Basel: Basler Afrika Bibliographien 2013. ISBN 3905758288 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Namibia's Red Line - On the History of a Fence in Southern Africa. INTERDISCIPLINARY HUMANITIES CENTER, October 11, 2004.
- ↑ a b c d Livia and Peter Pack: Namibia. second, completely revised edition. DuMont, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-7701-6137-8 .
- ↑ Police Zone. The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
- ↑ Map showing the route of the veterinary fence in Namibia.Retrieved on September 9, 2016.
- ↑ a b c d AS Bishi and JA Kamwi: Veterinary Science, transboundary animal diseases and markets: pathways for policy in Namibia ( Memento from January 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) In: Transboundary animal disease and market access: future options for the beef industry in southern Africa , Working Paper 4, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, 2008. (English)
- ^ B. Kruger, L. Lammerts-Imbuwa: Livestock Marketing in Namibia. ( Memento of the original from November 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 2008. (English)
- ^ Govt moves to eliminate veterinary cordon fence. In: The Namibian. 2010. (English)
- ^ VCF removal will decolonise communal farmers: KWFU. Namibia Press Agency, August 2, 2018.
- ↑ a b c d N. Derah and M. Mokopasetso: [1] (PDF; 349 kB) The control of Foot and Mouth Disease in Botswana and Zimbabwe , 2005. (English)
- ↑ a b Botswana Safaris: Vet Fences on Botswana.co.za (English)
