The Department of Agriculture said on 30 October 2026 that one horse on a property in the Cederberg Local Municipality has tested positive for African horse sickness. Permits to move horses out of the area will not be granted.
The farm sits inside the African Horse Sickness Protection Zone, the part of the country where the disease is normally kept out. The University of Pretoria’s Veterinary Genetics Laboratory identified the virus as serotype 7, the department said.
Agriculture Minister Willie Aucamp credited the surveillance system for the find. In his words, the detection is “a good example of how the veterinary surveillance system in South Africa works”. He said officials reached the affected area quickly and began containment under the Animal Diseases Act of 1984 and the Western Cape’s contingency plan for the disease.
A containment area now covers the property. Ordinarily a horse moving within a controlled area needs a permit from the State Vet: Boland. The department said that for this area it will not issue any, while investigations carry on.
Veterinary Services, authorised vets and industry partners are tracing animals and counting horses in and around the area. That work should show how far the outbreak reaches and whether other horses are infected.
Minister Aucamp said there is “no proof of large-scale disease activity outside the said property”. Owners were asked to report any horse with an unexplained fever, a swollen head or neck, breathing trouble or a sudden death.
Midges of the Culicoides group carry the virus. The department told owners to keep horses indoors from two hours before sunset to two hours after sunrise where they can, stay away from low, wet ground and use registered repellents and insecticides.
Owners were also asked to hold off on vaccination for now. The registered vaccine contains a weakened live virus, and midges feeding on a vaccinated horse could carry that vaccine strain to other animals, the department said.
On trade, the department said “international trade partners will be notified of the outbreak”. It promised further word on exports “in due course”. Rules on containment, movement and permits will come from the Western Cape Department of Agriculture and Veterinary Services, with details at myhorse.org.za.
The statement gives no count of horses in the controlled area and no date for reviewing the restrictions. South Africa’s wider trade picture is in the September trade surplus story, and the producer inflation report covers farm-linked prices. The department said it will issue updates as more information comes in.
