Meatco yesterday revealed its new strategic operational plan which will eventually include five mobile abattoirs to forever change the way in which slaughtering of livestock will be done in the northern communal areas (NCAs).
The revolutionary plan was revealed exclusively to New Era after agriculture minister John Mutorwa announced on Friday at a media briefing the lifting of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) restrictions that have been in existence since mid-2015.
Meatco has up to now not indicated if it will sign a new contract to operate the government-owned abattoirs in Katima Mulilo and Oshakati for another five years. Last year Meatco employees at these facilities expressed panic over their jobs, with the company showing no signs of continuing to lease the two facilities.
The Meatco board approved the new NCA business plan on December 5 last year.
Meatco will as from this week start to buy all available cattle from NCA producers who have been struggling to slaughter their animals due to the closure of the two abattoirs after the FMD outbreak last year.
The cattle will be kept in the available quarantine camps in the NCAs until the first mobile slaughtering unit is in place by the end of March.
Confirming the master plan of having the first of five purpose-built mobile slaughtering units in action by April/May this year, the manager of corporate communications at Meatco Rosa Thobias said Meatco’s decision was already communicated to Mutorwa toward the end of last year and that the company would not renew the existing contract with the agriculture ministry come the deadline of March 4.
Instead, it will switch over to the mobile slaughtering system. The dramatic switch was brought about by Meatco suffering tremendous losses by operating the two said abattoirs, and for this financial year the losses amounted to more than N$54 million.
In a letter dated January, the CEO of Meatco Adv Vekuii Rukoro informed agriculture acting permanent secretary Abraham Nehemia about Meatco briefing the minister Mutorwa on December 9 2015 about Meatco’s NCA operations in 2016 and beyond.
Documents show that on December 2 2015, Mutorwa’s office was directed to commence with a tendering process for the two abattoirs after the minister, already on November 3, instructed Nehemia to invite potential interested entities to apply for the operation and utilisaton of the abattoirs.
The existing agreement stipulates that Meatco had to request the ministry for an extension thereof, six months prior to the deadline of March 4, and correspondence by Meatco shows that the company spelled out its intentions last year already.