By Lebone Rodah Mosima
The acting chief executive of state-owned Onderstepoort Biological Products, Dr Jacob Modumo, has been precautionarily suspended over allegations of serious misconduct relating to the pricing of foot-and-mouth (FMD) disease vaccines, Agriculture Minister Willie Aucamp said on Saturday.
Aucamp said the OBP board instituted the suspension after a meeting on Friday.
“On Friday, 4 September 2026, I convened an urgent meeting with the Board of OBP wherein I presented the Board with information of allegations of serious misconduct relating to the pricing of Foot and mouth disease (FMD) vaccines against the Acting CEO of OBP,” Aucamp said.
“The Board, after considering the matter, gave the Acting CEO a notice of their intention to suspend him, and as per the OBP’s policy, have afforded him five days to provide reasons why he should not be suspended.”
He said that should those representations be insufficient, the suspension would remain in place pending an independent investigation into the allegations.
South Africa is battling a major FMD outbreak that was classified as a national disaster in February.
Government and the private sector have imported over 23 million vaccine doses, with second-round booster distributions now on the go, according to the department. All commercial dairy cows have received their first vaccine doses, Aucamp told the TLU SA Congress this week. He said that over the past week, no new cases of FMD had been recorded in the North West for the first time since December 2025.
Continued Aucamp in his statement on Saturday: “As a government entity, OBP has an obligation to act in the public interest. There should therefore be no exorbitant markup on the sale of FMD vaccines, particularly at a time when farmers are already carrying the significant financial burden of this outbreak.”
He said that the precautionary suspension of Modumo did not amount to a finding of wrongdoing or misconduct, and was carried out to protect good governance, accountability and due process while the allegations were considered.
“It is important that the department as well as all public entities and Boards under my watch perform their duties ethically and with the highest standards – nothing less will be tolerated – therefore I will maintain strong oversight over such entities to ensure good governance at all times,” Aucamp said.
“This matter will not be resolved through the media. We therefore urge the media and the public to refrain from speculation and to allow the appropriate processes to run their course until the matter has been concluded,” he added.
Aucamp said the matter would not affect the country’s FMD vaccination programme or efforts to contain the outbreak.
He also encouraged farmers to continue applying to become authorised persons, which would allow them to vaccinate their own animals in accordance with the relevant requirements and protocols.
The ministry said no further comment would be made before an independent investigation had taken place.
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