'No monopoly, no BMC'

GOTHATAONE MOENG
Staff Writer | Thursday May 2, 2013 00:00

 

 Johannes Van Der Merwe, who, early this week, appeared before the Parliamentary Special Select Committee investigating the beef industry, said the BMC in its current state of operations would not be able to compete with private entities.

Van De Merwe, however, said that he was opposed to monopoly, and said that he was supportive of the introduction of a competitive beef industry. 'I am against monopoly. I am a man for private business, like they have in South Africa and Australia.  Why should we have monopoly here?' he said.

He said the competition brought on by the removal of BMC monopoly would make the sector more vibrant and that this would help the smaller farmer, especially if two or three private abattoirs are opened in areas closer to the farmers. Van Der Merwe said the only way BMC would survive competition is if it was turned into just a slaughter facility.

 He also suggested moving the BMC cannery from Lobatse to Foot and Mouth Disease(FMD)-prone areas, instead of incurring the cost of moving cattle from FMD-prone areas to Lobatse for canning.We discussed this at some point, but there was a finance problem. I think this is something that has to come from the government. BMC canÕt afford it,Ó he said. 

Van Der Merwe, who is a member of the Ghanzi Farmers Association also confirmed that Ghanzi farmers are planning to open a private abattoir, because they have overseas funding to open the facility.But he warned that if this comes to pass, it will strike another blow to the BMC.If they open that abattoir, BMC is going to take a heavy knock because most of the cattle that go to Lobatse come from Gantsi,Ó he said.

Meanwhile Van der Merwe, a brother-in-law to Agriculture Minister Christiaan de Graaf, whose relationship was never declared to the board, admitted that, while he was a BMC board member, he passed information from board meetings to the association. He said that the Chairman of the Board and then CEO of BMC Dr Motshodi Raborokgwe was opposed to him passing this information on.  He said he then took this up with his brother-in-law De Graaf, who instructed the board that information from their meetings should be passed on to farmers associations across the country.

 [De Graaf] conveyed that it was the duty of the board members to keep producers and their customers informed.  He instructed the board to keep producers informed on a monthly basis,Ó Van Der Merwe said.

Although he ended up conceding that other farmers associations may have been disadvantaged because they did not have information from the board before the ministerÕs instruction, Van Der Merwe was initially adamant that it was right that he kept his association informed.  He maintained that other farmersÕ association were in constant contact with him and were therefore privy to the information. He added that there was some classified information that he did not pass on. 

Van Der Merwe also revealed that he omitted to disclose that he and De Graaf are related.ÒThere was no declaration from myself, but it is common knowledge.  He is my brother-in-law,Ó he said.