Independent legislator Temba Mliswa has complained that the country’s resources are being dished out to whites without due diligence.
He cited the example of the Cold Storage Company, once the country’s largest beef processor, which was given to Boustead Beef in 2019 saying it was given to Hollywood actors who had even duped the Vice President Consantino Chiwenga.
In his contribution to the President’s State of the Nation Address, Mliswa said: “Most of the investors that have come in, for example Cold Storage Commission brief case – they love whites. When they see a white man, they believe. They give the resources to a white man without due diligence.
“Who was responsible for the due diligence? How can you allow CSC to go to people who act and even the Vice President coming there? In fact, those were Hollywood actors.”
The government entered into an agreement with Boustead Beef which is fronted by Nick Havercroft in February 2019 but it never asked for proof of funds though the agreement said the company must produce this within four months of signing the agreement.
Boustead Beef has failed to revive the CSC forcing the government to place it under corporate rescue in December 2020 but Boustead Beef is still running the company, especially the Bulawayo abattoir though it is only carrying out service slaughters because it has no capital to refurbish the cold chain.
Boustead Beef invited Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga to re-open the Bulawayo factory in August last year but it has not fulfilled any of the promises it gave to Chiwenga.
It has invited a United States asset management company, Ethos Asset Management, to bail it out but there is still nothing to show for it three months after the two companies announced a “significant capital infusion that will continue for several years”.
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