The infamous redline … why does Namibia have a veterinary cordon fence?

BACKGROUNDNAMIBIA’S veterinary cordon fence (VCF), also known as the redline, is a stock disease control mechanism that protects Namibia’s beef exporting industry from stock diseases, such as foot-and-mouth and lung sickness.

Over the years, Namibia’s beef exporting industry has built a reputation as an industry that is committed to high standards. This has enabled Namibia to export meat to countries in the European Union and other countries, such as the United Kingdom (UK), Norway and South Africa.

In 2020, Namibia became the first African country to export red meat to the United States (US).

In the 2017/18 financial year, Namibia’s agricultural exports contributed N$5,77 billion to the Namibian economy.

Of this amount, N$3,4 billion came from beef exports, while the rest came from exporting sheep and goat, charcoal, grapes and from trophy hunting.

Beef exports clearly play an important role in the Namibian agricultural economy, and stringent disease-control measures are crucial in sustaining Namibia’s beef exporting industry.

However, the history of the redline is a controversy that dates back to the early years of Germany’s colonial rule over Namibia.

In 1896, Namibia suffered a serious outbreak of rinderpest (cattle disease), which had a devastating effect on its livestock production. It is estimated that the Ovaherero communities lost up to half their cattle herds at the time. German settlers, who mostly lived in the central and southern parts of Namibia at that time, also suffered severe losses.

To protect German herds from future epidemics, a veterinary cordon fence was introduced in 1897 which resulted in Namibia being divided into a northern and southern part. The fence became known as the redline, because it was printed on maps in red ink.

The fence spans the central north of Namibia from the Atlantic Ocean to Botswana.

The redline soon also became a political boundary in German South West Africa.

The area south of the redline became known as the area inside the Police Zone, while the area north of the redline became known as the area outside the Police Zone.

The implication of this was that the area within the Police Zone was directly under the governing control of the German colonial state, while the area outside the Police Zone was ruled indirectly through a system of appointed traditional authorities.

In effect, this boundary separated Namibians living in the north from white settlement areas to the south, although not all indigenous groups of South West Africa lived north of the Police Zone.

Under South Africa’s apartheid rule in Namibia, the redline served not only as a veterinary control, but also acted as a physical barrier restricting the movement of black Namibians north of the line to the south of the line.

Through the years, the fence has become an unwelcome reminder of Namibia’s colonial and apartheid past.

With Namibia’s independence in 1990 and the growth in exporting beef to international markets since, many of Namibia’s livestock herders have raised their discontent with the continuing existence of the redline, arguing that it denies them the same economic opportunities as those livestock herders living south of the fence.

Recently, the redline has also become the focus of a legal challenge against the Namibian government.

The mayor of Windhoek, who is the plaintiff in this matter, complains that the government’s veterinary cordon fence rules and regulations are not sanctioned by law, that it is discriminatory against a certain section of the Namibian population and that it violates both Articles 8 and 10 of the Namibian Constitution, which respectively protects the dignity and equality of all Namibians.

The government is aware of the political, economic and legal challenges associated with the redline’s status, and has led several discussions with stakeholders since independence over its removal – mostly without success.

The key reason for this is that the import of animals and animal products from Namibia entails certain risks for the receiving country.

Introducing animal diseases could impact negatively on the receiving country’s people, animals and environmental health.

Thus, countries normally prefer to import animals and animal products from countries that have a similar or better animal health status.

Furthermore, exports are negotiated at a bilateral level between exporters and importers, and as a result there is often no standard set of rules and regulations that applies to animal health issues.

While proposals to move the fence to the Angolan border have been considered in the past, it remains impractical because of the continuous movement of family livestock herds across the Namibian-Angolan border.

Also, erecting a new fence at the border would be very expensive.

To add to the complexities, Namibia continues to experience sporadic outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in its northern communal areas, meaning its beef exporting industry could be at serious risk if the fence is not kept intact.

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