COLD Storage Commission (CSC) employees have called on
President Emmerson Mnangagwa to step in and stop alleged asset stripping by a
United Kingdom-based investor Boustead Beef (Pvt), claims that have been dismissed
by the firm.
In an open letter, the petitioners, who include
retrenchees, pensioners and current workers, pleaded with government to
investigate the investor.
“Mr President, if possible, set up a small commission of
inquiry into this deal comprising lawyers and finance/investment experts to
bust this conman. If, indeed, our assessment is correct that Boustead Beef is a
scam, then CSC was transferred cheaply and to the wrong person without proper
regard to the massive value and income generation capacity of CSC,” the
petition read.
In March 2019, government signed an agreement with the
UK-based investor to buy into CSC.
Under the deal, Boustead Beef (Pvt) was to also finance the
rehabilitation of some CSC farms, where cattle fattening used to take place.
At the time, Boustead Beef (Pvt) promised to complete the
resuscitation of CSC within six months before revitalising the Masvingo,
Chinhoyi and Marondera branches.
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CSC employees called for an audit of the company’s assets.
“There is need for an independent audit up to a cut off
point to establish the state of affairs prior to February 22, 2019, the date on
which Boustead took over as per the LJFCP [Livestock Joint Farming Concession
Project]. Assets verification and documentation is important to safeguard them
from plunder through stripping,” the petition by the CSC employees read in
part.
“We suspect that after firing the CSC managers, Boustead
Beef seeks to destroy all institutional memory of the company, thereby creating
a conducive climate to plunder the properties without a trace. In our view, the
government must ensure it keeps an audited record of all assets transferred to
Boustead Beef in the LJFCP.”
However, Boustead Beef (Pvt) has expressed confidence the
company will resume full operations next month after the installation of a
three megawatt solar plant, which will be used to power its main plant in
Bulawayo in the face of rolling electricity outages.
The firm, which ceased operations and sent employees on
forced leave in September 2019 to allow retooling and refurbishments, said it
had taken delivery of the solar panels worth $10 million and other ancillary
equipment awaiting installation while antiquated equipment and others which
have outlived their lifespan have been removed.
Its tanning operations at its Bulawayo’s Wet Blue
Industries have resumed less than two months after it was taken out of
judiciary management, NewsDay established during a visit to CSC yesterday.
Reggie Shoko, the company’s consultant, said: “It was a
retooling process which was taking place at the main abattoir and the canning
factory, where we had to replace some of the malfunctioning equipment with new
machinery such as the old compressors.
“We are ready to go, though not at a pace that was widely
expected as there is a lot of retooling that had to take place. It’s still baby
steps, but we are producing, particularly at our tanning factor.”
He added: “There is a lot that we have to deal with, its
institutional legacy as a parastatal among others. We are, however, pleased to
announce that we have received export orders with our first scheduled for
April.”
The company has promised to bring back to life the
struggling CSC after promising to inject US$400 million over the next five
years to revive the company, which had become dormant in the last two decades.
Newsday
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