Veterinary Services charged with the responsibility of fighting Foot-and-Mouth Disease head-on through mass cattle vaccination, has exceeded expectations by vaccinating more 30 thousand cattle within the first three-day period within uGu District. The district has 150 dip tanks, expected to draw between 45 thousand to 60 thousand cattle across the Ray Nkonyeni, uMuziwabantu, and uMzumbe local municipalities. Veterinary teams are still scheduled for deployment in the Mdoni Local Municipality on Sunday, 01 March 2026, and wrap up the district with private farms set for Monday and Tuesday. The next stop for the veterinary services is Harry Gwala District. Despite this success, the provincial government is racing against time to vaccinate about 2 200 dip tanks and private farms housing around 2.5 million cattle, the second-largest cattle population in the country, after Eastern Cape province.

After administering vaccines to the cattle at Mehlomnyama Diptank under the uMzumbe Local Municipality and leading the drive on Saturday, 28 February 2026, the MEC for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mrs. Thembeni kaMadlopha-Mthethwa, announced that the FMD vaccination programme is proceeding according to plan.

"The BioGenesis Bago vaccines will be enough for the two districts (uGu and Harry Gwala) that are currently free from the FMD SAT 3 strain. With the forthcoming vaccines which are more than 400 thousand doses for the province and more to come in tranches on a weekly basis thereafter, we will be able to administer vaccinations in other seven districts, particularly in northern KwaZulu-Natal, specifically uMkhanyakude and Zululand districts, where FMD SAT 3 suspicions have been reported, " said kaMadlopha-Mthethwa.

"The second batch will be most effective in all the districts including the other seven districts because science-based research suggests potential presence of the SAT 3 virus in areas adjacent to game reserves with buffaloes which are the primary sources of FMD."