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Harare reinstates licences of remaining private abattoirs
Regerai Marwezu, ZimOnline
September 26, 2007

http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2071

MASVINGO - President Robert Mugabe's government has reinstated the licences of all private abattoirs in another embarrassing admission that the state beef monopoly has no capacity to meet demand.

The government withdrew the licences of all private slaughterhouses on 11 July, accusing them of defying orders to reduce meat prices by half in the state's attempts to rein in rampant inflation.

Industry Minister Obert Mpofu said at the time that the state-owned Cold Storage Company (CSC) would be given sole responsibility for slaughtering livestock.

But Mpofu yesterday announced that all abattoirs had now been given the green light to operate.

"We have re-licenced all the abattoirs because we have discovered that the CSC has no capacity to supply beef to the nation," Mpofu said.

The reinstatement of licences of all slaughterhouses comes about a month after the Harare authorities announced the lifting of the ban on 42 private abattoirs to alleviate severe shortages of beef around the country.

The lifting of the ban had at the time sparked allegations of favouritism with some mainly white abattoirs accusing the government of re-licensing slaughterhouse owned by individuals with close links to the ruling ZANU PF party.

Mpofu was yesterday confident that beef supplies would have improved by the end of the week following the entry of more players and the recent increase in prices.

"We have also increased the price of beef with immediate effect and we hope by the end of the week meat will be available in most butcheries," said Mpofu.

A kilogramme of economy beef is now going for $685 000, up from the previous recommended price of $144 000.

Super beef now sells for $800 000 a kg from $250 000 previously.

Mpofu said the government would continue to push for greater participation by indigenous blacks in the beef industry but said implementation of such a policy was being frustrated by some white abattoir owners who opted to remain closed than to be forced dispose of their shares to blacks.

Most white owned abattoirs in southern Zimbabwe had remained closed since last month after the government refused to re-licence them, demanding that they first dispose of at least 50 percent of their shares to blacks.

ZimOnline is reliably informed that one of the abattoirs was being forced to sell part of its shares to ZANU PF bigwigs and army generals in return for an operating licence.

It could not be immediately established yesterday whether the concerned abattoir that resumed operations on Monday this week had sold part of its stake to ZANU PF politicians.

"The policy has not changed and we are still encouraging and not forcing all white owned abattoirs to take on board blacks," said Mpofu.

In the south-eastern Masvingo province, most butcheries started receiving meat deliveries on Monday from abattoirs.

"We slaughtered about 54 cattle yesterday (Monday) and today we are slaughtering 55," said an official with a local abattoir who refused to be named.

"The government has however ordered us to supply the local market first before exporting the product," he added. - ZimOnline

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