Chronicle Editor
Mkhululi Ncube, [email protected]
THE Dube family from Umguza is devastated after losing eight cattle to a lethal feed concentrate bought from a local supplier, Fivet Animal Health, which has refused to offer any form of compensation, adding insult to injury for the family.
Mr Anthony Ncube was sent to purchase the survivor stock feed by his grandmother, Mrs Zodwa Dube, but the attendant at the shop instead wrote the wrong product on the receipt and gave him the “deadly” Concentrate Nhapi Tapi 98 leading to the tragic loss of the cattle.
Despite his attempts to salvage the situation, Fivet only agreed to replace the feed and gave four bags of the “correct” one to Mrs Dube.
The Dube family lost eight cattle and seven goats belonging to neighbours after they ate Concentrate Nhapi Tapi 98 on Saturday.
Mr Ncube said they were initially set to buy the feed on Thursday but due to network challenges at the shop they could not.
“The guy who usually buys the feed could not make it on Friday and my grandmother gave me her bank card to swipe for the feed. I ordered survival cattle feed as told and I don’t know how the lady wrote something totally different. The worst part is that at no point did the shop explain to me about how the feed is administered,” he said.
“I challenged the company to check their CCTV if we had any communication that could have lasted a minute with anyone at the shop but they declined. I delivered the feed home and the next call I received on Saturday was rush to Fivet because the cows are dying.
“I went there and after explaining the situation to an official of the company, he asked if anyone had explained how to administer the feed and I told them that no one did.”
Mr Ncube said the shop official, a Mr Mallon, then told him to get vinegar and instructed him how to administer it to save the cattle. He said despite their efforts it was already late and eight of the cattle had died.
“My grandmother visited the shop on Monday and Fivet told her they will only replace the feed and gave her four bags of the “correct” feed. They told her that they explained to me how to administer the feed even though this was a lie,” he said.
“I went and engaged the manager on Tuesday and I insisted that no one explained how to handle the feed but he refused to check the CCTV with me.”
Mr Ncube said the shop manager asked for the two parties to reach a compromise but when they met yesterday he was singing a different tune saying that the company stands by the statement it issued.
He said they were disappointed that after the company initially showed commitment to do something about the tragedy, it later reneged.
“We’re yet to meet as a family to map a way forward. We are disappointed that after supporting Fivet for so many years this is how they treat us, more so when they did not explain to us how to use the feed concentrate,” said Mr Ncube.
Livestock specialist and farmer, Mr Mhlupheki Dube, criticised the inadequate labelling of the product and the poor technical advice given by the sales staff.
“The person who is selling to you in those shops are not your ordinary people. They are trained in that field and have to provide technical advice to farmers,” he said.
“I believe if they had been told about the product they were buying they would have been more cautious. My suspicions are that the person who sold the feed was sleeping on duty because if the farmer was warned they would not have faced this accident.”
Mr Dube said the statement issued by the company about the dangers of the product does not replace the technical advice from the salesperson. He said most labels on the bags tear off during transportation making them unreliable.
“The label I saw on the pack says Fifeed and there was nothing about concentrate. I did not see anything about concentrate, which is an error in the labelling.
“A concentrate must be labelled as such or else it passes as a straight feed. In my view, the feed is not properly labelled. So, there was a challenge both on the technical advice and on the labelling of the feed.
“It’s a sad incident and if I had my way I would actually motivate that the farmer get some form of compensation. It will be unfair to blame all this on the farmer. There were some critical omissions from the company itself and the company needs to own up to those omissions,” said Mr Dube.
On Tuesday, Fivet Animal Healths general manager for nutrition, Mr Russel Smith, confirmed that the company is conducting an investigation to determine what transpired.
“Immediately after receiving the news of this incident, we launched a full-scale investigation to determine the cause. Our team has been working closely with all interested parties,” he said.
“While we are still in the process of gathering detailed data, preliminary reports indicate that there may have been a misapplication or misuse of the product, which would have led to the unfortunate deaths of the cattle,” he said.
Mr Smith said their product was “safe and effective supplement when used according to the recommended guidelines”.
-@themkhust
Online Reporter