Director’s Cut: Dr Theo de Jager – How foot-and-mouth disease exposed South Africa’s broken state

In this Director’s Cut, Dr Theo de Jager, chair of the Southern African Agri Initiative (SAAI), tells Alec Hogg how the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease has laid bare the collapse of South Africa’s agricultural command systems. Once tightly managed through roadblocks, military coordination, and traceability controls, the state has now “lost all command and control,” says de Jager. He explains how the disease spread from the Kruger Park to the Western Cape, devastating farmers, crippling exports, and driving up meat prices — all while the government imports outdated vaccines from Botswana and fails to produce its own. De Jager’s warning is blunt: “If the state doesn’t act, the disease will. And when that happens, it’s not just farmers who pay — it’s every South African at the supermarket till.”