Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Senzeni Zokwana was at the Alice campus of the University of Fort Hare yesterday to support the institution’s vision to establish a veterinary school in three years.
Plans are already underway at Fort Hare to house the country’s second veterinary school, and Zokwana rallied behind the idea to have a faculty committed to producing graduates equipped to care for animals and livestock.
South Africa’s only veterinary school is on the Onderstepoort campus of the University of Pretoria.
Zokwana was joined by rural development MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane and other public and private stakeholders who all offered support to the university’s aspirations.
Zokwana told the Daily Dispatch the school was much needed amid a shortage of veterinary services in the country.
He said a farmer-dominated province like the Eastern Cape would turn the school into a hub of animal health skills.
“Research reveals that there should be one vet per 100000 animals. In South Africa, one vet services 1.3million animals.
“You can imagine how many farmers don’t have access to a vet.”
He commended the work done by the university in boosting farming communities in the province. “The university needs a department like ours to support it because the agriculture department is one of its biggest faculties. This university has given assistance to many local small-scale farmers and communities, and it still has a much broader role to play. The university’s dream is a much-needed service in the Eastern Cape and the country.”
Vice-chancellor Sakhela Buhlungu said the school was a natural next step for UFH. “We’ve had an agriculture facility that has been doing extremely well in a number of areas, which means we’d be building the vet school on a solid established foundation.”
He said the academic programme for the school was already completed and it was with the national Department of Higher Education and Training for reviewing.
“Establishing this school has been a very expensive endeavour needing many resources, but in the next three years something should be up and running. We’re going to start small and build up from there.”
“Eastern Cape has the largest number of livestock in the country, which makes it a natural home for the project.
“Rural communities must have access to veterinary services for their animals.” — nonsindisoq@dispatch.co.za
Minister hails UFH plans for SA’s second vet school
Plans are already underway at Fort Hare to house the country’s second veterinary school, and Zokwana rallied behind the idea to have a faculty committed to producing graduates equipped to care for animals and livestock.
South Africa’s only veterinary school is on the Onderstepoort campus of the University of Pretoria.
Zokwana was joined by rural development MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane and other public and private stakeholders who all offered support to the university’s aspirations.
Zokwana told the Daily Dispatch the school was much needed amid a shortage of veterinary services in the country.
He said a farmer-dominated province like the Eastern Cape would turn the school into a hub of animal health skills.
“Research reveals that there should be one vet per 100000 animals. In South Africa, one vet services 1.3million animals.
“You can imagine how many farmers don’t have access to a vet.”
He commended the work done by the university in boosting farming communities in the province. “The university needs a department like ours to support it because the agriculture department is one of its biggest faculties. This university has given assistance to many local small-scale farmers and communities, and it still has a much broader role to play. The university’s dream is a much-needed service in the Eastern Cape and the country.”
Vice-chancellor Sakhela Buhlungu said the school was a natural next step for UFH. “We’ve had an agriculture facility that has been doing extremely well in a number of areas, which means we’d be building the vet school on a solid established foundation.”
He said the academic programme for the school was already completed and it was with the national Department of Higher Education and Training for reviewing.
“Establishing this school has been a very expensive endeavour needing many resources, but in the next three years something should be up and running. We’re going to start small and build up from there.”
“Eastern Cape has the largest number of livestock in the country, which makes it a natural home for the project.
“Rural communities must have access to veterinary services for their animals.” — nonsindisoq@dispatch.co.za
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