BUSINESS 7: Namibia’s Red Line
A veterinary barrier that began as a defence against deadly animal disease became a political boundary before returning to its original purpose. It shaped Namibia’s past, faded from prominence after independence, and once again sparked heated debate following the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the country's south.
The principle of using physical barriers to contain contagious animal diseases dates back to the rinderpest epidemic of the 1890s. Also known as cattle plague (Pestis bovina), the highly contagious disease swept through southern Africa, decimating cattle herds and devastating the region’s livestock wealth. Indigenous and colonial farmers alike suffered the consequences.
Baron von Schuckmann, the Imperial German consul-general in Cape Town, attended a conference in Vryburg at the end of August 1896. The town was then part of British-administered Bechuanaland, in what is now Botswana. Participants agreed on coordinated measures to combat the epidemic, prompting the German colonial authorities to establish a barrier in what was then German South West Africa (DSWA). Work began in November 1896 under Deputy Governor Friedrich von Lindequist.
Much further south
In his 2012 book, Namibia’s Red Line, historian Giorgio Miescher draws on the work of Herbert P Schneider, who published an article titled “The history of veterinary medicine in Namibia” in the Journal of the South African Veterinary Association in January 2012.
Their accounts describe an early barrier stretching more than 500 kilometres, guarded by 16 military posts along a cordon line. It ran from Epukiro in the east, turning northwards via Waterberg, Otjituuo, Tsintsabis, Namutoni, Rietfontein, Okaukuejo, Cauas-Okawa and Huab before reaching Tsawisis in the west.
The objective was to prevent infected livestock from entering from the east and north. Despite these efforts, rinderpest spread into central Namibia in 1897, devastating cattle herds, particularly those belonging to African communities.
Schneider identifies this first cordon as the beginning of the modern Veterinary Cordon Fence (VCF). Miescher’s historical research traces how the boundary subsequently evolved, taking on functions far removed from its original veterinary purpose.
1905–1920s: When the fence became political
In December 1905, the German Reichstag resolved to restrict police protection in its colony of DSWA to the smallest practicable area. On 15 March 1907, a decree issued in Berlin defined the territory that would receive police protection. Much of its northern boundary followed the 1896 cordon.
A further decree by Von Lindequist on 22 March 1907 established three game reserves, including a vast reserve in the north.
The boundary consequently became a dividing line between the colonial Police Zone and areas where African communities continued to live under their traditional systems of governance, particularly in the north. The restrictions increasingly affected the movement of people and their livestock.
After the German Schutztruppe surrendered at Khorab, near Otavi, on 9 July 1915, South African forces took control of the territory. Following the end of the First World War on 11 November 1918, the Union of South Africa - then a self-governing dominion within the British Empire - inherited the existing administrative arrangements and retained them.
The Red Line takes shape
In 1916, an outbreak of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, commonly known as lung sickness or longsiek, prompted the Union authorities to impose an embargo on livestock exports from South West Africa.
Commercial farmers proposed using the Police Zone boundary to separate their livestock from animals in the northern territories. The boundary was subsequently marked in red on maps, and by the 1920s the term “Red Line” was increasingly associated with it.
The line did not simply shift north or south with every new disease outbreak. Its position on maps, its administrative function and the physical fences erected along it were distinct developments.
Miescher’s archival research documents a process spanning more than 60 years, rather than a single construction project. Over time, a veterinary measure became an administrative boundary with profound social, political and economic consequences.
1934–1964: FMD changes everything
Namibia’s first recorded FMD outbreak occurred in the Gobabis district in 1934. The defining crisis, however, came on 12 July 1961, when the disease was diagnosed on the farm Esperance in the eastern Windhoek district.
In August that year, authorities decided to erect game-proof fences to restrict the movement of wild animals and prevent the disease from spreading. The outbreak continued until the last cases in the commercial farming area were recorded in 1964. The new fencing helped establish separate disease-control areas and eventually enabled exports to resume.
During the 1960s, the veterinary boundary developed into a continuous fence approximately 1 250 kilometres long.
At the same time, the Red Line took on an even more divisive political role. Between 1963 and 1968, the Odendaal Plan was implemented, formally introducing South Africa’s “homelands” policy - the Bantustan system - into South West Africa. The plan reinforced the Red Line’s role as an instrument of racial segregation.
The physical barrier became a central element in efforts to protect livestock south of the line. Yet the political and economic divisions associated with the old Police Zone remained embedded in the country’s landscape.
Namibia’s Red Line today
Since independence, Namibia has largely maintained the Red Line to protect the commercial farming area south of the VCF from FMD. Over the years, the government has also promoted changes in land ownership, helping to create opportunities for black farmers to participate in the beef export trade with the European Union. That trade is estimated to be worth more than N$2 billion a year.
The modern VCF runs westwards from the Namibia–Botswana border, separating the FMD protection zone from the disease-free zone. This definition appears in Namibia’s Animal Health Regulations, Government Notice 358 of 2018, published in Government Gazette 6803.
The fence forms part of a wider network of stock-proof and game-proof barriers, together with controlled crossing points designed to manage animal movement.
African buffalo pose a particular veterinary concern around Waterberg because they can carry the FMD virus without showing obvious symptoms. In 2015, two buffalo escaped from Waterberg Plateau Park. Tests returned negative results, and quarantine restrictions were lifted. The incident did not disrupt the agricultural sector.
The Red Line’s continued role in disease control, however, remains a sensitive issue. While it helps protect access to valuable export markets, the boundary also reflects a history of restrictions on livestock movement and unequal access to economic opportunities.
Botswana, Zambia and Angola
Namibia is not the only country in the region to have relied on veterinary fences. Botswana developed an extensive network of barriers to protect cattle production and control FMD.
Its Kuke Fence was built in 1958, followed by additional internal barriers, including the Makalamabedi Fence in the 1960s. A Southern Buffalo Fence was erected in 1982 to reduce contact between buffalo and cattle around the Okavango Delta. These barriers formed part of a growing veterinary-control network, rather than a single boundary directly comparable with Namibia’s Red Line.
Zambia recorded FMD in 1933, followed by further outbreaks in subsequent decades. During the 1970s, a wire fence of approximately 400 kilometres was constructed in Shangombo District along the Angolan border. It was intended to restrict cross-border livestock movements and control animal diseases, particularly contagious bovine pleuropneumonia.
Angola shares borders with both Namibia and Zambia, and animal movements across these frontiers have repeatedly presented veterinary challenges. However, it remains unclear whether comparable continuous national FMD cordon fences were built in Angola in the past, and, if so, where and when.
The history of the Red Line is therefore about more than a fence. It is a story of how a measure designed to protect livestock became entangled with colonial administration, racial segregation and economic opportunity - and how, more than a century later, its veterinary purpose continues to shape debate about animal health, trade and movement in Namibia.
