Zimbabwe lands minister misleading Mnangagwa about revival of CSC

Majoko said that by seeking a partner, Boustead Beef was clearly demonstrating that it had no capacity to revive the CSC since Ethos was supposed to finance the refurbishing and restarting of the company. He, however, refused to comment on the legality of the Boustead Beef-Ethos Asset Management partnership.

Asked why he had been summoned by July Moyo and not Masuka under whose ministry the CSC falls, Majoko said July Moyo was acting on behalf of the party. 

He said that Moyo had told him that the party was now convinced that Boustead Beef had no capacity to revive the CSC but it was more upset by the fact that it had duped the Vice-President to officially open the company when it was not ready.

Asked why Boustead Beef was being allowed to continue with the charade, Majoko said he too could not understand why but thought Masuka was involved.

“I am not sure whether he is acting on his own or there is someone behind him,” Majoko said.

The same sentiment was expressed by a woker’s representative who said Masuka was misleading the President because he knew the status of the CSC.

“I put all the blame of the present chaos at the CSC on Masuka,” the workers’ representative said. “Masuka was a member of the CSC board when Boustead Beef entered into the agreement with the government. He knows that the board was excluded from negotiations about this flawed agreement. He knows that Boustead Beef has failed and that is why he ordered the corporate rescue of the CSC. But why he continues to work with Boustead Beef baffles me. 

“I also do not understand why the company is called CSC Boustead Beef because there is no such company. The CSC is a company on its own and Boustead Beef is a separate company. I went to the companies’ office in 2020 to check if the company had changed its name to CSC Boustead Beef. There is no such registered company.”

Majoko said he was not clear whether Boustead Beef could enter into a partnership with another company as the CSC is still under corporate rescue.

“The CSC is still under corporate rescue. It has no corporate rescuer, however, since 7 July when I was removed through a default judgement that I am appealing against.”

Several workers scoffed at the agreement announced by Boustead Beef saying that they had heard the same story before. 

One of the workers said that Havercroft had even lied when he told the Independent that the Bulawayo factory was currently slaughtering 50 cattle a day, saying it was in fact slaughtering an average of 20.

A former member of the CSC management asked whether Boustead Beef was an investor or a broker.

“One can either be an investor or a broker but not both.  A broker cannot sign an agreement on behalf  of an unknown investor. In this case Nick is indirectly admitting to have been a speculative briefcase businessman  when he signed the  concession agreement  with the government.”

The former manager said Boustead Beef was trying to divert attention from the pressure that is mounting on the company from multiple legal challenges and from the government.

The government is now aware that Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga was duped into officially opening a factory that was not ready and is investigating what actually happened.

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