Question NW2356 to the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development

Reply:

(1)(a),(i),(ii),(b) Please refer to the table below.

Name	Job title	Years                 in current position	Qualification(s)
Dr Mphane Molefe	Director: Veterinary Public Health – Department                               of Agriculture,                   Land Reform       and                  Rural Development	5 years	Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Bachelor of Veterinary Surgery (BVMCh)
Ms             Morongwa Senyatsi	Control Veterinary Public Health Officer - Department                               of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development	4 years	Bachelor                                      of Technology (BTech)
Dr Emmanuel Midzi	State  Veterinarian                                 - North West	13 years	Bachelor of Veterinary Science                            (BVSc), M.Med Vet
Dr Jurgens Barnard	State Veterinarian – Free State	3 years	BVSc
Dr                 Christine Meintjes	State Veterinarian – KwaZulu Natal	8 years	BSc, BVSc

 

Dr Lungile Jali	Deputy             Director: Veterinary Services – Eastern Cape	6 years	BVMCh
Dr Lea Shuda	State Veterinarian – Northern Cape	5 years	BVSc
Dr Faculty Baloyi	State Veterinarian – Gauteng	25 years	BSc Med, BVMCh
Dr Michael Swart	State Veterinarian – Western Cape	1 year (37 years as        a           state veterinarian              in different areas of veterinary services, including                  as Deputy Director in North West)	BVSc
Dr Themba Malatsi	State Veterinarian – Limpopo	20 years	BVMCh
Dr Thelma Mokgopi	State Veterinarian – Mpumalanga	6 years	BVSc

(1)(c) All the members of the working group, except for the first 2 on the list as provided, are provincial coordinators of animal welfare in their respective provinces and therefore animal welfare is part of their key responsibility areas in their work. This provides them with the necessary technical skills and experience required for the animal welfare technical aspects of the bill. The Director of Veterinary Public Health in the Department, under which the animal welfare mandate rests and who is a member of the working group, has 26 years of experience as a veterinarian, which includes working in academia, primary animal health care, meat safety, export facilitation, import facilitation and animal identification, all of which require some level of animal welfare knowledge and consideration and has generated the necessary experience required to lead the technical drafting of the Bill. Ms Senyatsi has been coordinating animal welfare matters within the Department since 2018 and has garnered the requisite experience to be part of the team working on the draft.

(1)(d) The current membership of the working group does not have the legal experience relevant to the drafting of the specified Bill. This is a new Bill which is still in its infancy and addressing the technical objects before engaging in the legal aspects, which will be overseen by the Departmental Legal Unit. The Office of the State Law Advisors will be approached subsequently to confirm the draft Bill’s conformity to legal drafting standards, compliance to the Constitution of South Africa and absence of conflict to national and international legal obligations. As responded to under question 2331 raised by the Honourable Member, the current drafting of the bill is still an internal government process and no consultations have been engaged on yet.

(2)(a),(b),(c) In addition to the response as provided to question 2331 raised by the Honourable Member, which provides reasons why the National Council of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and other animal welfare organisations have not yet been consulted and involved, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) has recently been engaged on the membership to the working group and will participate in matters of the group going forward.

The Honourable Member is advised that the animal welfare legislative mandate rests solely under the Animals Protection Act, 1962 (Act No. 71 of 1962) and the Performing Animals Protection Act, 1935 (Act No. 24 of 1935), both Act which are under the custodianship of the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. The DFFE has no legislated animal welfare mandate.