Debt-ridden BMC makes P106m loss

• 19 671 cattle slaughtered in 2021/22 financial year
• Beef export market to be liberalised  through BMC Transition Act
• Meat Industry Regulatory Authority to be established
• CEO to be appointed before end of this month

This is against the thoroughfare of cattle slaughtered in the 2021/22 financial year at both the Lobatse and Maun abattoirs that stood at 19 671.

The Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Molebatsi Molebatsi, said this in Parliament recently when he answered a question on the performance status of the BMC. Molebatsi said he is optimistic that the BMC will return to its days of glory. “By end of February 2022, the number of cattle slaughtered at BMC in the period between January and February 2022 was 3 029 as compared to 561 in the corresponding prior period,” Molebatsi stated, added that these figures show growth and revival of the BMC in 2022.

Regarding the vacant post of CEO at the parastatal, the minister said recruitment is underway and should be filled by a suitable candidate by the end of this month after consultations with President Mokgweetsi Masisi. He told Parliament that the position has been vacant since 2018 and that the BMC is currently run by its Board of Directors. Minister Molebatsi said the Meriting strategy – which began in 2022 and will continue until 2025 – is guiding revival of the BMC to its former days of glory.

Meanwhile, the BMC Transition Act of 2019 will end the beef export monopoly of the parastatal. Molebatsi said privately-owned abattoirs will be able to sell beef to international markets under the Act that will come into force in the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year.

The BMC will also undergo rigorous transformation to commercialise it in order to achieve operational efficiency and profitability. It is also expected that a Meat Industry Regulatory Authority, which will be responsible for regulating the cattle and beef sector, will be established through this law.