Fowl play from government and bird flu

As a country, South Africa has to deal daily with the man-made disaster which is the ANC government…. But now, on top of everything else, the poultry industry has to deal with a crippling outbreak of avian flu.

Because of this, hundreds of thousands of chickens have had to be culled, raising the prospect of shortages of both chicken and fresh eggs which may stretch well into next year.

ALSO READ: South African chickens hit by ‘worst’ bird flu outbreak

No doubt the chicken importers, who have been fighting local producers for years with cheap chicken from the Americas, will be delighted at the news. But this could be another heavy blow to a local sector that is the creator of thousands of jobs, never mind tax.

In addition to the battle against cheap, often subsidised, imported chicken, the local poultry industry has been hard hit by load shedding, having had to spend hundreds of millions of rand on diesel for generators to keep equipment like cooling fans running.

ALSO READ: Finland culls 120,000 fur animals after bird flu outbreak

And that is where a natural disaster gets compounded by our governing disaster. Looting and mismanagement in government have created a situation where all local business has very little room to deal with the effects of natural calamities. That sad reality won’t be lost on potential investors either…