Meatco suspends slaughter City water cuts cost meat factory N$2,4 m

WATER rationing in Windhoek caused by fire damage to one of NamWater’s booster pump stations near the Von Bach Dam has forced the country’s largest meat-processing plant, Meatco, to halt the slaughtering of 800 cattle and to truck water to its feedlots outside Windhoek.

The water shortage has caused Meatco losses of N$2,4 million. “The fact that we had to stop slaughtering and slow down on deboning the meat costs us about N$600 000 per day,” Meatco’s Marketing and Communications Manager, Uschi Rhamakhutla, said yesterday.”We can only start slaughtering again next Monday.”The company had to negotiate with farmers to take their cattle back on Monday.They were also asked to stop sending animals to the abattoir for the rest of the week.”Employees working in the plant are reduced to two-thirds of their salary because of a reduced work load,” Ramakhutla added.”We cannot operate on 50 per cent reduced water supply, we need the full capacity.”Meatco requires some 850 hectolitres of water per day.Some 3 883 animals at the Okapuka feedlot, 25 kilometres north of Windhoek, also need water.”We bring in ten truckloads of water per day now to bridge the water problem,” Ramakhutla said.Meatco managed to slaughter 421 animals on Monday, but the quota of 430 for Tuesday and 338 for Wednesday had to be abandoned.NamWater has started repairing the damage to its pump station, caused by fire after an electrical short-circuit.But it might take until tomorrow or Friday before the station can resume pumping water to Windhoek’s reservoirs.It takes several hours for the Windhoek reservoirs to fill up.In the meantime, the municipality has forbidden the watering of gardens, washing of cars and any other unnecessary use of water until Friday.”The fact that we had to stop slaughtering and slow down on deboning the meat costs us about N$600 000 per day,” Meatco’s Marketing and Communications Manager, Uschi Rhamakhutla, said yesterday.”We can only start slaughtering again next Monday.”The company had to negotiate with farmers to take their cattle back on Monday. They were also asked to stop sending animals to the abattoir for the rest of the week.”Employees working in the plant are reduced to two-thirds of their salary because of a reduced work load,” Ramakhutla added.”We cannot operate on 50 per cent reduced water supply, we need the full capacity.”Meatco requires some 850 hectolitres of water per day.Some 3 883 animals at the Okapuka feedlot, 25 kilometres north of Windhoek, also need water.”We bring in ten truckloads of water per day now to bridge the water problem,” Ramakhutla said.Meatco managed to slaughter 421 animals on Monday, but the quota of 430 for Tuesday and 338 for Wednesday had to be abandoned.NamWater has started repairing the damage to its pump station, caused by fire after an electrical short-circuit.But it might take until tomorrow or Friday before the station can resume pumping water to Windhoek’s reservoirs.It takes several hours for the Windhoek reservoirs to fill up.In the meantime, the municipality has forbidden the watering of gardens, washing of cars and any other unnecessary use of water until Friday.