MPs raise red flag on meat

Lloyd Gumbo Senior Reporter
A Parliamentary committee has raised fears that private abattoirs could be selling meat that does not meet health standards, compromising people’s health.

The portfolio committee on Lands, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development also took a swipe at the Government for failure to resolve problems faced by the Cold Storage Company.

In its first report on the operations of the CSC and the Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) presented to Parliament last week, the committee said a number of CSC properties were neglected and are in a dilapidated state.

The committee, chaired by Zanu-PF MP for Muzarabani South, Cde Christopher Chitindi, blamed the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development for its failure to provide guidance to the CSC.

Cde Chitindi presented the report.

“There is a lack of collective responsibility between the board and parent Ministry,” noted the committee.

“The Minister is supposed to give policy direction in line with section 31 (1) of the Cold Storage Commission Act, but there has never been a meeting between the Minister and board since 2011 when the board was appointed. The result is that any turnaround strategy or proposal has a high risk of failure,” said the committee.

“There is a high possibility that private abattoirs are selling meat that does not meet health and safety standards.

“As a result, consumers may be exposed to eating meat and related products that are not safe for human consumption,” it warned.

“A cartel has developed within the trading of cattle and marketing of meat and related products locally. The cartel comprises family-owned businesses with self-serving interests,” the committee observed.

“In the process, vulnerable livestock owners are being forced to sell their cattle at sub-economic prices. CSC does not have the capacity to compete with them or bring sanity in the trading and marketing of meat and related products on the local market.”

The committee recommended that the executive finalises the CSC joint venture agreements in order to save the situation by June 2016.

The MPs called on Government to address the problems affecting the CSC as a matter of urgency.

Mazowe South MP Cde Fortune Chasi (Zanu-PF), said the law provided that officials in charge of Government property must take care of the same.

“Property is just dealt with in the manner any individual wants. Quite often we blame sanctions for some of our troubles and I think it is high time that we should now look at how some of our own people are the greatest saboteurs when it comes to Government property,” said Cde Chasi.

MDC-T MP for Kuwadzana East, Mr Nelson Chamisa, added: “We need to come to a point in time if we say a Minister is not performing, a parastatal is not performing, not only should we just howl and shout to say they should come here. We must give them specific timelines to execute certain things.

“If they fail to come within those timelines Parliament must have teeth not just to bark, but to bite.

“We must bite those who are not performing if we are to save institutions in this country.”