The first case of ovine paratuberculosis in South Africa was diagnosed in an imported Merino ram in 1967. During the late 1980ies outbreaks occurred on two agricultural research farms in Gauteng and Mpumalanga Provinces, respectively. It was not before 1993 that paratuberculosis was confirmed in the Western Cape Province. Following a considerable increase in the number of infected farms it was decided to carry out a nationwide survey using the AGID test. The survey was completed between July 1996 and June 1997. All positive reactors were slaughtered and examined by histopathology. A total of 145,934 samples from 2019 farms were tested. Fifty-four infected farms were identified in the Western and Eastern Cape provinces. Links between infected farms in the two provinces could be established. Examination of the distribution of infected farms in the Western Cape indicated a positive correlation between acid soils and infection. In an attempt to increase the sensitivity and facilitate screening of large numbers of sera in a future monitoring programme two commercial ELISA systems are presently compared. Sera from histologically positive sheep which were slaughtered during the initial disease outbreaks on the two research farms as well as during the survey are used.