21 May 2013

 

 Kgosi Maruje III of Masunga has condemned what he termed the recycling of board members of various entities in the country.

He said this during a presentation before the Parliamentary Select Committee on the under-performance of the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) and the decline of the beef industry at Masunga kgotla on Saturday.

Kgosi Maruje opined that there was need to introduce into the BMC board, people from outside the beef industry to bring in a diversity and wealth of ideas as to how best the entity could be run.

He noted that doing so would enrich the board in many ways and also enhance the manner in which it delivers on its mandate.

The traditional leader also indicated that there was also need to create economic hubs across the various sectors of the economy, something that he said would result in people in particular sectors getting the best possible support from government.

Unlike other speakers, Kgosi Maruje spoke against the lifting of the monopoly of the beef sector that is currently being enjoyed by the BMC.

He said although the monopoly itself was bad, such a move would result in the total collapse of the entity, as some of the people who sit in its board would offer it tough competition as they have extensive knowledge of the running of the beef sector.

Kgosi Maruje also pointed out the need for the beef market to be segmented, saying the idea of clustering it and focusing only on the European Union was bad.

He said the ideal situation was to fragment it such that different areas in the country would produce for different markets.

Furthermore, he cited an example where cattle from the Ghanzi area would be slaughtered for the EU market; while the Maun area would sell live cattle to the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries willing to buy such and the North East area would sell for local consumption.

This, he said, would be to ensure that only areas meeting the set standards and requirements of the EU market supplied it while Batswana from those that fall short of the set criteria also benefitted from their cattle. Another speaker at the hearing, Mr Elias Mbonini blamed the decline of the beef industry on the monopoly being enjoyed by the BMC.

He said the lack of competition for the BMC had resulted in its continued poor performance.

Mr Mbonini said farmers could group themselves and sell their cattle to whichever countries would be willing to buy them, and the idea to form some groups being to enable even the poor to benefit from such markets.

The resident also expressed the view that it was important that government erects an electric fence between Botswana and Zimbabwe to control the movement of both livestock and wildlife between the two countries, saying this would go a long way in preventing the constant disease outbreaks.

Also calling for the lifting of the BMC monopoly was another resident, Mr Misiyose Bonyo, who said time was ripe that alternative markets be sought for Botswana cattle.

Mr Bonyo differed with a speaker who had suggested that wildlife in border areas be killed alongside cattle during times of outbreaks to eradicate Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), saying there was no need to kill either livestock or wild animals.

He indicated instead that both be vaccinated against FMD, noting that it was crucial to overlook the role being played by wildlife in the country’s tourism sector.

Mr Khazi Motswakae, a councillor for Zwenshambe decried the practice where some of the BMC board members also served as its feedlotters.

This, he noted was tantamount to conflict of interest and had the potential to breed mismanagement by the board.

Mr Motswakae suggested that members of Farmers’ Committees across the country be co-opted into the BMC board to safeguard the interests of small farmers.

Also at the same meeting, another speaker, Mr Pius Mokgwathi criticised what he called intellectual dishonesty by those who advise policy makers.

Mr Mokgwathi said a cattle census that was conducted in 1982 had put the national herd at 1.5 million, but that a couple of months after the exercise, information came out that the cattle population stood at around two million.

The exaggeration of the figures, he said, gave government the impression that the BMC would be viable.

He however noted that since its inception, the abattoir had never been able to slaughter as per its capacity because farmers did not have the cattle in numbers that had been said to be there.

Mr Mokgwathi also pointed an accusing finger at the Ministry of Agriculture for its lack of proper management and care of such facilities as livestock quarantines.

He said many of them were currently in a state of disrepair, so bad that some farmers’ cattle continued to fall prey to predators because fences were not being maintained.

Mr Mokgwathi observed that this further resulted in fewer numbers of cattle reaching the BMC, which in turn adversely affected its operations. ENDS