Were Mnangagwa and Mthuli Ncube taken for a ride by Boustead Beef?

Asked after the announcement if 25 years was not too long for the CSC to be operated by a private investor, Mthuli Ncube  told the Herald that the period was sort of standard across the world, and could stretch to 35 years, since they were funded by debt.

He said that there were numerous advantages which included bringing back abattoirs to full functionality, providing raw materials to industry such as fat for soap making, and setting up out-growers.

“The benefits are incredible for the economy. We are happy with the progress so far and as government are supporting them to make sure that they can really resuscitate CSC to its former glory,” he said.

Ncube said Boustead Beef was already on the ground and was expected to invest US$45 million in the first year, with US$10 million set to be channelled towards the purchase of cattle to replenish the stock.

Boustead Beef would also invest US$6 million into the refurbishment of abattoirs, canning factory, distribution infrastructure, working capital and IT systems while US$500 000 plant equipment had been ordered and paid for and was ready for shipping.

Another State-owned company, Willowvale Motor Industries, would benefit from the deal as Boustead Beef would buy its vehicles from the company.

Boustead  Beef itself was upbeat about the deal. Managing director Nick Havercroft told the, the Chronicle, two months before the government announced the deal, that the company was set to create more than 600 jobs.

“Currently, there are only about 240 people employed. As we get Bulawayo up and running we will add another 400 into the operation so we will have up to about 650. We are putting in a much more efficient system, a brand new IT (Information Technology) system. A lot of work was done manually in the past but this time head office will have less people,” he said.

He also talked about the progress already taking place.

“Right now we have all the engineers in there. We have to refurbish the whole plant as it hasn’t worked for 15 years. Our main challenge are the compressors, which were specifically made for this plant.  We will start small operations of about 300 herds a week and there is a section which we can fix faster than the whole main complex and have it up and running in about 10 weeks’ time…..

“The problem is it hasn’t worked for 15 or 20 years, so we have to replace all the pipes for the cold room. So, it’s a very big job and we are confident certainly by August or September we will have it fully functional,” Havercroft said.

A year after cabinet announced the deal and 15 months after Boustead moved in to the Bulawayo factory, none of the things that Mthuli Ncube and Havercroft promised has happened.

In September, instead of starting operations, the company announced that it was shutting down for four months to allow retooling.

After the four months, it announced at the end of January, that it was retrenching all the workers.

On Thursday last week the company announced that it had suspended rehabilitation work because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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