No christmas cheer for CSC as Boustead Beef finds another lame excuse for failing to revive operations

First it was the former Cold Storage Company workers who were to blame for its failure to revive the company because they had sabotaged its operations and stripped company assets. 

Now it is the former corporate rescuer Vonani Majoko who is to blame because he is allegedly pocketing all the rentals from CSC properties. To make matters worse, legal wrangles with Majoko have allegedly scuttled the US$100 million investment deal that Boustead Beef had entered into with United States investor, Ethos Asset Management.

Boustead Beef, which entered into a joint agreement with the government  in 2019 to revive the CSC, once one of the largest meat processors in sub-Saharan Africa, has once again failed to revive the State-owned enterprise.

According to the Zimbabwe Independent, police are investigating Majoko, a Bulawayo lawyer, for fraud because he has allegedly refused to “hand over crucial documents under his care, including books of accounts and keys, since his ouster in July this year”.

The weekly says that a statement was made to the police on 30 November but does not say by whom.

Majoko was appointed corporate rescuer of the Cold Storage Company on 31 March 2021 after creditors disqualified Ngoni Kudenga who had been appointed by the Minister of Lands and Agriculture Anxious Masuka  in December 2020 because of conflict of interest.

The company was placed under corporate rescue because Boustead Beef had failed to revive the CSC.

Although Boustead Beef filed a claim as one of the creditors when the CSC was placed under corporate rescue, it was allowed to continue operations, especially at the Bulawayo factory, claiming that it was refurbishing the plant and invited Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga to officially open its operations in August.

This turned out to be a sham.

On 1 November Boustead Beef and Ethos Asset management announced a new long-term financing partnership in which Ethos said it had committed to providing significant capital infusion that would continue for several years.

Carlos Santos, CEO of Ethos Asset Management Inc, stated: “We are delighted to be partnering with such a prestigious company and nationally important organization in Boustead Beef, the largest and dominant meat processing operation in Africa. 

“Boustead Beef is the only integrated beef processing company, and vertically integrated grass fed beef operation in Sub-Saharan Africa. We were very impressed with Boustead’s exceptional standards and level of operation in Zimbabwe. 

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