The Zimbabwean government has banned the import of livestock products from SA following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Limpopo. This comes as Botswana, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) and Namibia have also taken similar action in a development that will affect SA’s multi-billion rand meat industry. Earlier this week, SA’s department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries labelled the outbreak in Limpopo a crisis as the country had to stop its exports of cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, pig and goats. Zimbabwe’s ministry of land, agriculture, water, climate and rural resettlement said in a statement on Thursday that the decision to ban imports of all live cloven-hoofed animals and their products was inevitable. “The control of foot and mouth disease involves the implementation of trade restrictions ... ” said the statement. “In line with the Animal Health Act ... the issuance of permits is a mandatory requirement for the importation of all animal products. Any import app...

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