04 Jun 2019

Government has decided to retain Maun Abattoir as a government entity for strategic purposes, Public Enterprises Evaluation and Privatization Agency (PEEPA) CEO, Mr Obakeng Moumakwa says.

Speaking at a press briefing held in Gaborone recently, he said Maun Abattoir would not be privatized along with the Lobatse and Francistown Abattoirs.

“Since Maun Abattoir serves farmers in the Red Zone, it will be retained as a strategic facility which is placed to deter farmers from smuggling cattle from Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) infested areas into the Green Zone as this would endanger Botswana’s beef industry,” Mr Moumakwa said.

He said government had therefore, decided to retain Maun Abattoir and engage a strategic partner to operate it through a Concession Agreement.

“We issued a tender in March 2019 seeking the services of a Transaction Advisor to assist us with separating the Maun Abattoir from BMC Lobatse and Francistown hence engaging a Concessionaire to operate the Maun Abattoir. Therefore we had to establish a new limited liability company to house BMC Maun, to provide technical advice during negotiations and to finalise signing of concession agreement with the preferred Concessionaire.”

Mr Moumakwa stated that after a rigorous tendering and selection process, Minchin & Kelly had been selected as the preferred consultants for the privatisation of BMC.

Their responsibilities, he said would include carrying out a business financial and human resource assessment of BMC as well as developing a strategy and transaction plan to guide the privatisation.

He said Deloitte Consulting had been selected as the Transaction Advisors for the concession of the Maun Abattoir.

Mr Moumakwa further said that he was confident that the two companies had the capability and competence to deliver the projects on time and within budget and also believed they would enjoy a fruitful relationship as they advance government’s commitment to employment creation and economic development.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Mr Jimmy Opelo said before they privatise BMC, they wanted to ensure that objectives such as making sure that the private sector takes part in the development of the country including the meat-processing business were met and to make sure that there was no monopoly.

He said the consultants were brought in to look further into the competitive areas and niche market that could be realised in the process of privatisation. He said there should be no fear of people losing their jobs due to the privatisation.

The separation of the Maun Abattoir is one part of the privatisation of the whole BMC. The next step will involve registering BMC as a limited liability company under the Companies Act, developing a privatisation strategy that provides the various options on how BMC can be privatised as well as recommending and implementing the optimal privatisation method after approval by Cabinet. ENDS