The ban followed rising cases of foot-and-mouth disease in South Africa. According the Department of Agriculture's Reggie Ngcobo the disease management area will cover those areas where no improvement has been observed, such as Marquad, Viljoenskroon and Harrismith. Ngcobo encouraged the livestock industry to continue observing the necessary bio-security measures to prevent the spread of the disease. Ngcobo adds it is encouraging that the Eastern-, Western- and Northern Cape provinces have not had a single case of foot-and-mouth before or during the 21 days ban.

Historically Disadvantaged Individuals, which includes emerging farmers, are set to benefit from the Department of Water and Sanitation's water use authorisation workshop in Hartswater. The provincial head of the department in the Northern Cape, Iketletso Lekalake, says this workshop will be a follow-up to  previous session focused mainly on authorisation and application processes to obtain a water use license, whereas the session in Hartswater will focus on acclimatising water use license holders to their responsibility to comply with water use license conditions.

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Weather conditions remain favourable for veld fires in large parts of the Northern Cape. A warning was issued for towns such Kimberley, Postmasburg and Kathu. Conditions are such that the Fire Danger Index is above 75. Under these conditions, fires may develop and spread rapidly - resulting in damage to property and the possible loss of human and/or animal life.

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