Was Vice-President Chiwenga taken for a ride by Boustead Beef?

A source said Chiwenga was advised not to re-open the factory by the local Joint Operations Command but he was persuaded to do so by the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture.

Members of a sub-committee appointed by Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister Judith Ncube to look into the operations of the CSC were barred from entering the premises three months ago and had to hold their meeting in a car.

The sub-committee discovered that Boustead Beef had cannibalised some electrical motors from the Canning plant and fitted them as spares for the Bulawayo abattoir refrigeration plant.

Two pumps for the boiler were removed and taken to the CSC abattoir where they were repainted and fitted “as newly imported spares”.

At the official re-opening Boustead Beef was reported to have pumped in US$24 million into the business.

A worker at the plant said there was no such investment because the plant was working all along. It was the refrigeration that was not working and is still not working including on the day the Vice-President re-opened the plant.

“We decommissioned the plant because of the low capacity utilisation. Our output was not enough to meet the power costs and there were also the power outages. We had to bring a smaller plant from Mutare to continue our scaled down operations. This was way before Boustead Beef came onto the scene.  So the plant was working, and in my opinion the plant that the VP was asked to commission is worse off that it was when we decommissioned it,” the worker said.

A former management employee said he could not understand why the Vice-President had been duped by Boustead Beef unless he was conflicted because the company had failed to meet most, if not all, the terms of the agreement that it entered into with the government.

Under the joint venture agreement signed in 2019, Boustead Beef was supposed to:

• raise and invest a minimum of US$130 million into CSC over five years, being for both capital expenditures and working capital for the business;
• pay off CSC financial debts totalling US$42 530 597;
• pay rentals of US$100 000 per annum during the first five years of the concession agreement;
• take over and run the management of the following CSC ranches for an initial period of 25 years: Maphaneni; Dubane; Umguza; Chivumbuni; Mushandike; Willsgrove; and Darwendale;
• take over and run the management of the following abattoirs for an initial period of 25 years: Bulawayo; Chinhoyi; Masvingo; Marondera; and Kadoma; and
• take over and manage for an initial period of 25 years, the Harare, Gweru and Mutare distribution centres and residential properties of CSC.

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