Meatco hands over Katima abattoir to ZAMCO

The Meat Corporation of Namibia (Meatco) has completed the handover of the Katima Mulilo Abattoir to the Zambezi Meat Corporation (ZAMCO), bringing to an end a five-year agreement under which Meatco had run the facility since 2021.

ZAMCO exercised its contractual right to terminate the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA), and Meatco said it worked with stakeholders to ensure an orderly transition.

The handover completes a mandate given to Meatco by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform in 2021, under which the corporation was tasked with running the abattoir and building ZAMCO's capacity to manage it independently.

Remarks delivered on behalf of Meatco's interim chief executive, Ambassador Albertus Aochamub, described the transition as the conclusion of a partnership that strengthened livestock marketing and institutional capacity in the Zambezi Region.

Meatco marketed 17,160 cattle at the abattoir over the five years, generating about N$139.4 million in direct payments to producers. The facility sustained 57 permanent jobs and created about 100 temporary jobs each year.

Meatco also implemented the Commodity-Based Trade Protocol at the facility, positioning the Northern Communal Area as a recognised beef-exporting region and facilitating the first export of NCA beef to Ghana.

The corporation said it transferred procurement systems, operational procedures and management processes to ZAMCO as part of its capacity-building obligations, many of which ZAMCO has since adopted.

All employees at the facility will remain in place, and operational assets installed by Meatco will stay available to support continued operations. Some IT systems cannot be transferred because they are subject to third-party licensing or are part of Meatco's proprietary platforms, but Meatco said it would continue to advise ZAMCO as it builds its own digital capabilities.

Meatco congratulated ZAMCO's board, management and shareholders on taking full operational responsibility for the abattoir, and thanked the ministry, veterinary and public health officials, traditional authorities, producers and employees for their support during the mandate.