Louise van der Merwe is deeply honoured to have been awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics in recognition of her contribution to the cause of animal protection.
In announcing the award, Revd Professor Andrew Linzey said:
“This is the highest award that the Centre can bestow and is only given to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the Centre and/or the cause of animal protection. I am delighted to report that, after careful consideration, it is the unanimous decision of the Selection Committee to invite you to become our thirteenth Honorary Fellow.”
For more information, visit the
Open Letters in anticipation of the publication of South Africa’s draft Animal Welfare Bill
18 May 2026
Kind Attention:
Mr Mooketsa Ramasodi – DG Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development
Dr Mphane Molefe – Director Veterinary Public Health, Department of Agriculture
The African Organisation for Standardisation
Amy P Wilson – Animal Law Reform
John Steenhuisen – Minister of Agriculture
Isaac Looremeta – Animal Advocacy Africa
Kindly see our submissions in the links regarding the anticipated Animal Welfare Bill due out for public comment this year.
Our submission to ARSO: https://www.animalvoice.org/submission-to-arso
Interviews with leaders in the poultry industry on humane and sustainable food systems to support rural communities around Africa.
Professor Richard Fynn: https://www.animalvoice.org/prof-richard-fynn
Mike Bosch, Boschveld Chickens: https://www.animalvoice.org/boschveld-chickens
With kind regards,
LOUISE VAN DER MERWE
______________________________________________________________
Editor | Animal Voice
Managing Trustee | The Humane Education Trust
Director | Nature-Based Education Cape Town, South Africa
Mobile | 082 457 9177
Email | education@naturebased.online | avoice@yebo.co.za
Website | www.naturebased.education | www.animalvoice.org
From: Mphane Molefe [mailto:MphaneM@nda.gov.za]
Sent: 19 May 2026 13:52
To: Louise van der Merwe <avoice@yebo.co.za>
Subject: RE: Submission re Animal Welfare Bill
Good Afternoon
The Department of Agriculture hereby acknowledges your correspondence below and will consider your submission as the Animal Welfare Bill is being drafted. Please note that this does not constitute acceptance of your comments for the not yet published Bill, and you will still need to formally submit your comments when the Bill is published for public comments.
Regards
Dr Mphane Molefe
Director of Veterinary Public Health
Department of Agriculture
Pretoria, 0001
Republic of South Africa
Tel: +27(0) 12 319 7688/7572
Cell: +27(0) 72 241 0566
We thank Dr Molefe for his response.
31st July 2025
Kind Attention:
Minister John Steenhuisen
Minister of Agriculture
Email: MinisterDoA@nda.agri.za
Dear Minister Steenhuisen,
We refer to your Ministry’s draft Regulations for the Export of Live Animals by Sea and must express our deep concern. These proposed regulations appear to be an attempt to sanitise—in the eyes of an uninformed or emotionally disengaged public—a practice that is fundamentally cruel and inhumane.
No matter how carefully framed, these regulations cannot resolve the irreconcilable conflict between the pursuit of economic profit and our constitutional and moral duty to protect animals from suffering. The only principled and forward-looking course of action is to follow the example of countries such as Australia and New Zealand by ending this trade entirely and transitioning to chilled meat exports.
We urge you to consider the following key points:
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Inherent Cruelty: The live export trade inflicts suffering on animals in ways that are intrinsic to the practice, not incidental. No amount of regulation can eliminate the pain caused by overcrowding, heat stress, injuries, dehydration, and the prolonged fear and distress experienced over weeks at sea.
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Constitutional Values: In a landmark 2016 ruling, the Constitutional Court of South Africa affirmed that animal protection “safeguards the moral status of humans and the degeneration of human values.” To continue exporting live animals for slaughter in foreign countries is to disregard the moral and legal trajectory enshrined in our Constitution.
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Regulatory Contradictions: The draft regulations themselves acknowledge the inevitable suffering involved. Phrases such as adverse weather, downer animals, euthanasia, heat stress threshold, injury risk, contingency plans, and disposal of dead and euthanized animals are scattered throughout the document. These chilling acknowledgements make a mockery of the claim that animals will be given “opportunities and choices to engage in natural behaviour.”
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Moral Inconsistency: It is ethically untenable for South Africa to prohibit slaughter without stunning on its own soil while permitting the export of live animals to countries where this very practice is carried out. This constitutes moral outsourcing—exporting not just animals, but cruelty that our own laws would not permit. Furthermore, photographic evidence shows that children in these destination countries are exposed to this violence, in violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires protection from witnessing violence—including towards animals.
Ending the live export trade is not only an ethical imperative, but also a necessary alignment of our national conduct with the values we claim to uphold: compassion, accountability, and dignity for all sentient beings.
By taking decisive action, your Ministry has the opportunity to lead South Africa toward a truly humane and Proudly South African future.
Yours sincerely,
LOUISE VAN DER MERWE
______________________________________________________________
Editor | Animal Voice
Managing Trustee | The Humane Education Trust
Director | Nature-Based Education Cape Town, South Africa
Mobile | 082 457 9177
Email | education@naturebased.online | avoice@yebo.co.za
Website | www.naturebased.education | www.animalvoice.org
05 April 2024
Kind Attention:
Ms Monique Éloit Director-General: World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH)
and
Secretary-General Mathias Cormann: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
Copy to:
Dr Mphane Molefe Director: Veterinary Public Health, Department of Agriculture, Land
Reform and Rural Development
We, the citizens of South Africa appeal to you to help bring an end to the long-distance trade in live animals to slaughter.
Basis upon which The Humane Education Trust makes this appeal:
-
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently aligned its standards with the Five Freedoms for Animals as encompassed in the World Organization for Animal Health’s definition of animal welfare.
Without political will, standards remain a mere spouting of empty words.
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In December 2023, the United Nations General Assembly itself called for urgency to ensure that animal health and welfare can contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals, and to the One Health approach (Resolution A/RES/78/168). In addition, the United Nations Environment Programme’s Faith for Earth Coalition, launched Al Mizan: A Covenant for the Earth at the UN Environment Assembly in February 2024.
This important Islamic covenant for the earth, speaks of all created beings having rights, and of mercy to all beings.
See: https://animal-interfaith-alliance.com/2024/03/04/un-faith-for-earth-launches-al-mizan-a-covenant-for-earth
The suffering of the animals exploited by this trade is a violation of our collective human right to dignity, and a mockery of the Five Freedoms and Five Domains for Animals.
Kind regards,
LOUISE VAN DER MERWE
______________________________________________________________
Editor | Animal Voice
Managing Trustee | The Humane Education Trust
Director | Nature-Based Education Cape Town, South Africa
Mobile | 082 457 9177
Email | education@naturebased.online | avoice@yebo.co.za
Website | www.naturebased.education | www.animalvoice.org