Finance and Public Enterprises Minister Iipumbu Shiimi has expressed concerns about the Meat Corporation of Namibia’s (Meatco) turnaround strategy
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Despite the government having invested N$1 billion in subsidies over the past three years, Shiimi is not satisfied with the company’s progress.
“The Government is not satisfied with Meatco’s turnaround strategy, we want Meatco to stand on its own. We don’t want Meatco to be subsidised by the government because it is a commercial entity that is supposed to generate revenue for itself,” Shiimi told The Brief.
The Minister said the next plan of action to reduce the dependency of Meatco on the government subsidies is to improve the governance and leadership at Meatco.
He said this will be through the establishment of a board that will enact effective turnaround strategies at Meatco.
“What needs to be done is to strengthen the governance at Meatco, to be able to have a board that is looking at how to turn around Meatco. Once we have the board in place the board also looks at where the gaps are,” he said.
Shiimi further noted that despite the dissatisfaction with Meatco’s turnaround, the interim board has achieved notable progress.
“We have given the current temporary board an assignment to look at the turnaround plan, they have presented that turnaround plan and I think they are making significant progress,” he emphasised.
This comes after the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises appointed a temporary board for Meatco for a period of six months, effective from 1 September 2023 to 28 February 2024.
The beef processor is expected to face increased competition in the lucrative industry from private entities such as Beefcor Namibia and Savanna Beef Namibia, which is in the process of building a multimillion-dollar export abattoir.
