Africa-Press – Namibia. OSHANA governor Elia Irimari says attempts to help resolve the squabbles that led to the closure of Oshakati’s Eloolo abattoir are proving futile.
The government-owned abattoir opened its doors in November 2020, and was managed through a joint venture between KIAT Investment Holdings which is Namibian owned, and Chinese firm Ningbo Agriculture Investment Group.
However, 12 months down the line the two partners were forced to close the abattoir due to financial squabbles. Executive director in the agriculture ministry Percy Misika revealed that Irimari was involved in a series of meetings with the two parties so that the company could reopen and workers return to work.
The company initially had 75 workers under their employ, it has since retrenched 42. “KIAT allegedly accumulated so much debt before partnering with the Chinese company, which means Ningbo has been the one paying workers’ salaries and operational costs. This led to misunderstandings, quarrels and the eventual closure of the abattoir,” says Misika.
Irimari says KIAT holds the lease agreement while Ningbo joined in as an investor and was to plough in N$200 million in long- term capital and N$30 million at the inception of project.
“The facility’s water and electricity was cut off due to debt. I engaged the stakeholders responsible, the town council and Oshakati Premier Electric, so that debts owed could be repaid in monthly instalments. As we speak there is no power. They reached a point where they had to sell off most of their meat products at very cheap prices to get money to pay their debts,” says Irimari.
“We have our farmers here who need the abattoir to sell their products. The NCA livestock market can do better with the abattoir opened, we have more cattle here compared to south of the red line,” Irimari says. KIAT’s spokesperson Sikunawa Negumba was however not as optimistic.
“This situation with Ningbo is beyond resolve. It is as though we are drilling a borehole where there is no water. Ningbo has no money, they are just pretending. They deliberately refused to give us operational capital,” says Negumba.
When contacted for comment, Ningbo’s director Zhuang Caizeng also known as Victor, said his company wants to continue with the running of the abattoir, however KIAT was the one causing problems.
“Ningbo and KIAT have been engaging with each other, please allow them time to finalise discussions on the way forward,” he said.
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