Meatco denies refusing to slaughter cattle

MEATCO has denied that it ever refused to slaughter cattle for the Mangetti Meat Market, as was claimed by the Market’s Chairman, Ismael Shailemo and its General Manager, Shali Kamati, earlier this week.

Meatco’s public relations officer Uschi //Hoebes told The Namibian that Meatco never refused to slaughter cattle and, in fact, there was a booking to slaughter 85 cattle for the Mangetti Meat Market at the Oshakati Abattoir yesterday. The Chairman and the General Manager of the Mangetti Meat Market told The Namibian last weekend that Meatco was refusing to slaughter cattle for its members for export purposes and that they had written a letter to Prime Minister Nahas Angula complaining about Meatco’s decision.The letter says communal farmers north of the Veterinary Cordon Fence have no other access to meat markets within or outside Namibia and the Meatco decision has left them out in the cold.Kamati said the Mangetti Meat Market had orders from two companies in South Africa, but without Meatco’s slaughtering and processing facilities it could not fill these orders.According to Shailemo and Kamati, there are close to two-and-a-half million cattle in the northern communal areas, and farmers could slaughter fewer than 10 000 at the two Meatco abattoirs at Oshakati and Katima Mulilo last year.”This shows you that, because of the behaviour of Meatco, northern farmers are struggling to make an income and boost economic growth in the northern part of Namibia,” Kamati said.The letter also complained that meat from communal farms was only exported to African countries, and not to the more lucrative European markets.The Mangetti Meat Market procures livestock from its 500 members, quarantines them and then delivers them to the Meatco abattoirs According to Kamati, healthy competition between the Mangetti Market and Meatco has driven up livestock prices at auctions to the benefit of farmers.They said Meatco slaughtered cattle for them last year and exported the meat to Angola and the DRC with the assistance of the August 26 Company.//Hoebes confirmed this, saying that Meatco was approached by Mangetti Meat Market last year to slaughter, process and package meat in unmarked boxes for an export market, probably Angola.According to //Hoebes, Meatco honoured this agreement, but had to stop processing the meat because no payments had been received from Mangetti.”Furthermore, the packed product was not loaded, which led to the stores in Oshakati Abattoir overflowing with stock.Meatco then approached the August 26 Company, as it learned that this company had an agreement with Mangetti regarding the purchasing of cattle and subsequent of the processed product, and August 26 then stepped in and paid the Mangetti account,” //Hoebes told The Namibian.In response to the complaint that meat from the Northern Communal Area (NCA), where the Oshakati and Katima Mulilo Abattoirs are situated, is not exported to Europe, //Hoabes said this was regulated by the Veterinary Department under the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry and not by Meatco.The Chairman and the General Manager of the Mangetti Meat Market told The Namibian last weekend that Meatco was refusing to slaughter cattle for its members for export purposes and that they had written a letter to Prime Minister Nahas Angula complaining about Meatco’s decision.The letter says communal farmers north of the Veterinary Cordon Fence have no other access to meat markets within or outside Namibia and the Meatco decision has left them out in the cold.Kamati said the Mangetti Meat Market had orders from two companies in South Africa, but without Meatco’s slaughtering and processing facilities it could not fill these orders.According to Shailemo and Kamati, there are close to two-and-a-half million cattle in the northern communal areas, and farmers could slaughter fewer than 10 000 at the two Meatco abattoirs at Oshakati and Katima Mulilo last year.”This shows you that, because of the behaviour of Meatco, northern farmers are struggling to make an income and boost economic growth in the northern part of Namibia,” Kamati said.The letter also complained that meat from communal farms was only exported to African countries, and not to the more lucrative European markets.The Mangetti Meat Market procures livestock from its 500 members, quarantines them and then delivers them to the Meatco abattoirs According to Kamati, healthy competition between the Mangetti Market and Meatco has driven up livestock prices at auctions to the benefit of farmers.They said Meatco slaughtered cattle for them last year and exported the meat to Angola and the DRC with the assistance of the August 26 Company.//Hoebes confirmed this, saying that Meatco was approached by Mangetti Meat Market last year to slaughter, process and package meat in unmarked boxes for an export market, probably Angola.According to //Hoebes, Meatco honoured this agreement, but had to stop processing the meat because no payments had been received from Mangetti.”Furthermore, the packed product was not loaded, which led to the stores in Oshakati Abattoir overflowing with stock.Meatco then approached the August 26 Company, as it learned that this company had an agreement with Mangetti regarding the purchasing of cattle and subsequent of the processed product, and August 26 then stepped in and paid the Mangetti account,” //Hoebes told The Namibian.In response to the complaint that meat from the Northern Communal Area (NCA), where the Oshakati and Katima Mulilo Abattoirs are situated, is not exported to Europe, //Hoabes said this was regulated by the Veterinary Department under the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry and not by Meatco.