WINDHOEK – Witvlei Meat is preparing another court appearance to question the competence of Minister of Trade and Industry, Calle Schlettwein, in slashing the beef export quota allocated to Witvlei Meat for 2014. Schlettwein cut Witvlei’s beef allocation by 500 tonnes, denying the company of 70 percent of its business when he announced the results of the bidding process for the lucrative Norwegian market recently.
The new challenge would shift the focus to the alleged misinterpretation of facts that led to the decision by Schlettwein.
Confirming the fresh legal challenge in the High Court, the chairperson of Witvlei Meat, Sydney Martin, told New Era that the latest legal action could have been avoided had the minister updated himself on international trade regarding Namibian beef exports.
“I have been in the fishing industry for some 23 years and there all role players are in constant contact with the line minister to ensure all the facts are on the table when the annual quotas are allocated.
“Witvlei Meat will therefore challenge the allocation in the High Court as this was done unconstitutionally, and according to us the minister was not competent enough to make such an allocation as he was misinformed and the criteria for the bidding process were designed to suit Meatco,” Martin said.
One of the criteria considered in the allocation of the quota is the price to be paid to producers north and south of the cordon fence. Martin said in the case of Meatco only white commercial farmers are benefitting from the Norway quota, as the meat north of the cordon fence, known as the Red Line, cannot be exported to Europe.
Martin also fumed over the deadline of June 30 for the export of meat to Norway as has been determined by Schlettwein, which according to him is not conducive for healthy business. “We work on a demand and supply principle and the minister cannot prescribe to us when the meat should be delivered. It would have made sense if the deadline is the end of October,” said Martin.
An allocation of 300 tonnes of beef was awarded to Witvlei Meat, while Meatco would be able to sell 1 200 tonnes to Norway and Brukarros Meat Processors (BMP) was awarded 100 tonnes of beef for export. During the past three years the allocation of 1 600 tonnes of meat was done on a 50:50 basis between Witvlei Meat and Meatco, but with the entrance of BMP Cabinet decided that the quota should be done on a bidding process and that role players comply with certain criteria.
Schlettwein was quoted as saying Witvlei Meat did not meet certain criteria during the bidding process and that the allocation was done according to the criteria set out by Cabinet. He said each company was scrutinised individually during the bidding process and evaluated accordingly. Martin said these criteria put Witvlei Meat at a competitive disadvantage because they were vague and unclear.
Witvlei Meat’s new strategy to ensure a bigger slice of the quota comes after the company approached court just before Christmas in an effort to prevent government from implementing a bidding process for the allocation of the Norway beef quota for 2014. However, the High Court dismissed the application.
Martin last year warned that a drastic cut in Witvlei Meat’s quota could result in the immediate closure of the abattoir and the loss of 165 jobs, which would deprive more than 600 dependants of their main source of income in the Omaheke Region, which is suffering from the second highest unemployment rate in the country.
Martin said Witvlei Meat already produced 200 tonnes of its 2014 beef quota, which was kept in cold storage in Hamburg, Germany, to be delivered to Norway once the allocation has been done. “This means that with the allocation of 300 tonnes we only have another 100 tonnes of meat to be exported. This was not done illegally, as the minister claimed. Meatco has done the same thing before and it seems that with government acquiring 30 percent shares in Meatco, the criteria were set to suit Meatco,” said Martin.
By Deon Schlechter