15 Aug 2013

Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Mr Oreeditse Molebatsi, has told Parliament that there are no abattoirs in Ghanzi and Kgalagadi districts except for the eight slaughter slabs.

Responding to a question in Parliament, Mr Molebatsi said, out of the eight slaughter slabs, one was a poultry slaughter slab in Ghanzi, adding that there were four meat inspectors in the two districts (two inspectors for each district).

He said it would require the services of more meat inspectors to adequately cover the eight slaughter facilities on a daily basis and they were currently doing rotational meat inspection by appointment and schedule.

Mr Molebatsi said meat inspectors did not have a dedicated vehicle for meat inspection but they were transported by any available vehicle. He said the ministry had embarked on a programme to train more meat inspectors since last year and so far, about 44 had already been trained.

Kgalagadi North MP, Mr Phillip Khwae had asked the minister to state the number of abattoirs registered in Kgalagadi and Ghanzi and the number of meat inspectors covering those abattoirs/slaughter facilities.

He had also wanted to know whether the number of inspectors was sufficient to cover the two districts looking at the current establishment and remedial measure in place to address the challenges, if any, and the issue of inadequate transport. Ends