Abattoir gets new lease of life

THE official opening of the Witvlei Meat abattoir has been welcomed as heralding the dawn of a new day for a number of entities.

For the village of Witvlei, it means the start of a much-needed economic boost, for Government the attraction of foreign investment, and for the Agricultural Bank of Namibia a chance to redeem itself after the abattoir was forced to close two years ago, and the bank found itself attracting most of the flak. For its new owners, the abattoir is an opportunity to prove that overlooking them the first time around was a major mistake.Speaking at the official opening of the abattoir on Wednesday, Witvlei Meat Chairperson Sidney Martin noted how in April 2001 “we didn’t even qualify for the pre-tender qualification, although having consultants to the African Development Bank who built numerous abattoirs all over Africa”.Two years later – in 2004 – the abattoir, under the name !Uri !Khubis, went into liquidation.!Uri !Khubis had defaulted on a N$46.8 million loan from Agribank, apparently after failing to establish itself firmly enough in the meat industry.Witvlei Meat immediately applied to take over the abattoir, Martin said, and after a two-year waiting period they were informed that their application was to be considered by Agribank.They signed a lease agreement in August, and since then more than 600 cattle had been slaughtered at the reopened abattoir.Much of the blame for the original closure of !Uri !Khubis could in fact be blamed on Agribank, the bank’s chairperson, Hans-Gunther Stier, acknowledged on Wednesday.But this time around, the bank was intent on making the abattoir financially successful.”The Board of the Agribank has indeed been very conservative in its approaches and deliberations with potential investors,” Stier told invited guests, including President Hifikepunye Pohamba.”One thing was certain, the investor would have to introduce own funds.In no way would Agribank finance any potential investor.Our board looked not so much at how much money could be made, but rather concentrated on the investor that would most likely make a success of it, and also contribute adequate funds.”Two key factors in the bank’s decision to approve to Witvlei Meat’s takeover of the abattoir were the company’s seriousness in contributing its own capital rather than depending on Government funds, and the fact that it has brought with it two Norwegian companies with “direct access to the most lucrative meat market”, namely Europe.Witvlei Meat’s two industrial partners are the Fatland Group of Companies and Brodrene Michelsen (Michelsen Brothers).Fatland has a yearly turnover of approximately N$2 billion.According to group MD Leif Knutsen, it buys several tons of Namibian beef for processing in Europe.It mainly supplies meat to the Norwegian market.Brodrene Michelsen has an annual turnover of N$100 million, and is mainly involved in meat imports to Norway.In 1995, Norway decided to allow the customs-free import of an annual 2 700 tons of beef from Namibia and Botswana, and this quota was raised recently to 3 200 tons from next year onwards.Stier urged workers at the abattoir, and the community of Witvlei at large, to do all in their power to make sure that the abattoir becomes a success.”If it fails,” he warned, “there will be no third time”.While the original slaughterhouse was started as an empowerment project for people in the Omaheke Region, the region’s Governor, Laura McLeod, said that in the end only a few elite groups had benefited.For this reason, the Omaheke Regional Council had asked Government to conduct a forensic audit into the affairs of the original abattoir, in order to detect any irregularities and to bring the culprits to book.She said the regional council expected to be respected and recognised in the abattoir’s activities, and that the allocation of contracts for services such as cleaning, laundry and catering be allocated to local people rather than “economic giants”, as was previously the case.The council also expected to be provided with progress reports, quarterly reports, annual reports and a newsletter on the state of affairs at the abattoir.For its new owners, the abattoir is an opportunity to prove that overlooking them the first time around was a major mistake.Speaking at the official opening of the abattoir on Wednesday, Witvlei Meat Chairperson Sidney Martin noted how in April 2001 “we didn’t even qualify for the pre-tender qualification, although having consultants to the African Development Bank who built numerous abattoirs all over Africa”.Two years later – in 2004 – the abattoir, under the name !Uri !Khubis, went into liquidation.!Uri !Khubis had defaulted on a N$46.8 million loan from Agribank, apparently after failing to establish itself firmly enough in the meat industry.Witvlei Meat immediately applied to take over the abattoir, Martin said, and after a two-year waiting period they were informed that their application was to be considered by Agribank.They signed a lease agreement in August, and since then more than 600 cattle had been slaughtered at the reopened abattoir.Much of the blame for the original closure of !Uri !Khubis could in fact be blamed on Agribank, the bank’s chairperson, Hans-Gunther Stier, acknowledged on Wednesday.But this time around, the bank was intent on making the abattoir financially successful.”The Board of the Agribank has indeed been very conservative in its approaches and deliberations with potential investors,” Stier told invited guests, including President Hifikepunye Pohamba. “One thing was certain, the investor would have to introduce own funds.In no way would Agribank finance any potential investor.Our board looked not so much at how much money could be made, but rather concentrated on the investor that would most likely make a success of it, and also contribute adequate funds.”Two key factors in the bank’s decision to approve to Witvlei Meat’s takeover of the abattoir were the company’s seriousness in contributing its own capital rather than depending on Government funds, and the fact that it has brought with it two Norwegian companies with “direct access to the most lucrative meat market”, namely Europe. Witvlei Meat’s two industrial partners are the Fatland Group of Companies and Brodrene Michelsen (Michelsen Brothers).Fatland has a yearly turnover of approximately N$2 billion.According to group MD Leif Knutsen, it buys several tons of Namibian beef for processing in Europe.It mainly supplies meat to the Norwegian market. Brodrene Michelsen has an annual turnover of N$100 million, and is mainly involved in meat imports to Norway.In 1995, Norway decided to allow the customs-free import of an annual 2 700 tons of beef from Namibia and Botswana, and this quota was raised recently to 3 200 tons from next year onwards.Stier urged workers at the abattoir, and the community of Witvlei at large, to do all in their power to make sure that the abattoir becomes a success.”If it fails,” he warned, “there will be no third time”.While the original slaughterhouse was started as an empowerment project for people in the Omaheke Region, the region’s Governor, Laura McLeod, said that in the end only a few elite groups had benefited.For this reason, the Omaheke Regional Council had asked Government to conduct a forensic audit into the affairs of the original abattoir, in order to detect any irregularities and to bring the culprits to book.She said the regional council expected to be respected and recognised in the abattoir’s activities, and that the allocation of contracts for services such as cleaning, laundry and catering be allocated to local people rather than “economic giants”, as was previously the case.The council also expected to be provided with progress reports, quarterly reports, annual reports and a newsletter on the state of affairs at the abattoir.