In September of 2000, the news headlines broadly outlined the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak at Camperdown, Nata, South Africa. The ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), has issued a statement and announced that FMD had been located on a pig farm near Camperdown. They cited the cause of the disease as being from a ship which had entered the Durban Harbor. According to the law at that time, the port authorities had to accept the ship’s swill/galley waste. Portnet was employed to take the swill and destroy the waste, but this was not done. It was sold to agents who resold it to farmers, beginning the FMD outbreak.
A red circle was drawn around the area, and no cloven-hoofed animals were allowed to leave the marked circle. All animals within the red line were put down and destroyed. Unslaked lime, motor vehicle tires, and gasoline was used to burn the carcasses.
On about November of 2000, the state of emergency at Camperdown was ended. A large herd of cattle belonging to Africans was impounded inside of a camp to eventually be put down. At midnight, a certain Chief Mahlaba arranged for the transport of the cows. Half of the herd was loaded onto lorries and driven 200 km into Zululand. The other half was also loaded onto lorries, but driven 200 km into The Transkei.
Within a few weeks, all symptoms of infection in animals disappeared. The police and military that were in charge of state of emergency called the emergency off, which ended the Camperdown foot-and-mouth disease scare.
Years later, whilst standing in a long queue at a bank in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, a farmer stood behind a well-built African male with a dark complexion. Four Asian men who apparently knew this man approached him, told him they knew the FMD story was a sham, and asked him to tell them the truth. In his own words, "We put it in. We put it into Camperdown, and we put it into England. We put it into England, and it spread extremely quickly. We are very pleased that it spread so quickly, quicker than what we expected.We put it into a flock of sheep. The farmer could be paid compensation for having his flock destroyed because of foot and mouth disease. He was paid £200 per sheep that is why the farmer spread it. A farmer got the saliva from an infected sheep, put that onto a handkerchief. Wrapped an apple with the handkerchief, and put that into a flock of sheep. The first sheep picked it up, tried to chew it, and then dropped it. The second sheep did the same and dropped it. Therefore, the whole herd did the same and all animals got infected. The disease started in the south and went up the west side on England." The conversation thus ended.
The man in the bank at that time was Dr. Eric Mtshali. He was based at the Allerton State Veterinary Department in Pietermaritzburg.
Based on the farmer's overheard conversation at the bank, foot and mouth disease was deliberately introduced to Camperdown, South Africa, and did not did not arrive in a ship's swill.
By Laura Oneale
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