Govt’s new meat company on track

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WINDHOEK – The establishment of the new Meat Company of Namibia and the Livestock Producers’ Cooperative took another step closer on Friday when Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, John Mutorwa, announced the long-awaited appointment of the six new Meatco Board members, while the board’s chairperson and vice-chairperson were elected in the presence of the media.

Martha Namundjebo-Tilahun was unanimously elected chairperson, while Diethelm Metzger emerged as vice-chairperson after his position was challenged by three candidates. The term of the directors of the previous Meatco Board ended on August 31.

The six members of the new Meatco board are Sophia Nangula Kasheeta, Israel Itamunua Ngangane, Charles/Urib, Diethelm Metzger, Ronald Leonard Kubas and Martha Namundjebo-Tilahun.

Announcing the six new board members when he welcomed them at the inaugural meeting of the new board of directors in Windhoek on Friday, Mutorwa stressed their appointments were the natural outcome of an irreversible and democratic process that would see the birth of the new Meat Company of Namibia and the Livestock Producers’ Cooperative early in 2014.

“Legal drafters are now finalising the draft bill and draft bylaws that will land in parliament early next year whereafter the drawn out process of restructuring Meatco and establishing the Meat Company of Namibia and the Livestock Producers’ Cooperative will become a reality when parliament enacts the relevant laws,” he stressed.

 

 

In his speech he stressed that the legal process currently underway is irreversible. He also emphasised that government has followed every step in the book in establishing the new companies, and criticised those who drew conclusions about him as line minister dictating the course of the restructuring process. “Nothing untoward was ever done by government or me in the transformation of Meatco in its current form to become the Meat Company of Namibia. The history of this transformation dates back to 2007 when an independent consultancy agent was appointed to define the mandate and ownership structure of Meatco. Cabinet approved their report in June 2012, and it was coordinated by and facilitated through the Cabinet Committee on Trade and Economic Development (CCTED). Soon after, cabinet approved the draft Meat Company of Namibia Bill and draft bylaws for the Livestock Producers’ Cooperative.

“The draft bylaws were referred to the Cabinet Committee on Legislation (CCL), and on October 3 this year, the CCL scrutinised these documents which are now in the hands of legal drafters. Once finalised, these bills will go to parliament next year and the two new bodies will be established.”

The new Meatco Board was supposed to be announced on September 16, but after cabinet endorsed and supported the appointments on  September 3, some people critics closely associated with Meatco’s management and operational activities objected to some of the appointments.

Mutorwa apologised for the “abrupt postponement” and any inconveniences caused to some of the newly appointed Meatco Board members. “It was not intentional as these objections had to be investigated because our government is one that operates on the principle of the rule of law,” he said when announcing that the new board members would serve for a term of three years, until such time when the proposed new Meat Company Bill and the Livestock Producers’ Cooperative bylaws are enacted by parliament.

Mutorwa spelled out the various sections of the Meatco Act of 2001 dealing with the composition of the board, the nomination process of potential board members and the eventual appointment of board members by the minister responsible for agriculture, water and forestry.

He urged the new members to acquaint themselves with all 34 sections of the Meatco Act of 2001 (Act 1 of 2001) and the relevant provisions of the State-Owned Enterprises Governance Act of 2006 (Act 6 of 2006), after which he presided over the election of the board’s chairperson and vice-chairperson as stipulated by the Act.

 

 

By Deon Schlechter