Seithati Mots’oeneng/Mohloai Mpesi
MAIN opposition Democratic Congress (DC) leader, Mathibeli Mokhothu, has expressed unhappiness over the prolonged ban on the importation of poultry products from South Africa.
Mr Mokhothu told the Lesotho Times from his party’s headquarters on Tuesday this week, that government’s lengthy ban on poultry products from South Africa, was an unnecessary crisis as it was being created to benefit the top brass in Prime Minister Sam Matekane’s seven-party coalition administration.
He said the ban was adversely affecting poultry farmers who import their stock exclusively from the neighbouring country.
Mr Mokhothu accused Mr Matekane and members of his cabinet of aiming to capitalise on the lengthy ban to capture the poultry business for themselves.
According to Mr Mokhothu who is also the Official Leader of Opposition in Parliament, the lengthy ban did not have grounds, especially when South Africa which has been hit by Avian Influenza (bird flu) continued with poultry production.
A blanket ban on poultry products was imposed by the Department of Livestock under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition on October 11, 2023, following outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), specifically the H5N1 and H7N6 strains, in various provinces of South Africa such as that country’s economic hub, Gauteng province, as well as Mpumalanga, Free State and Limpopo and the Western Cape.
But Minister of Trade and Industry, Mokhethi Shelile, has rubbished allegations that the Basotho elite, especially those linked to the coalition government, were trying to hijack the poultry business, asserting that they had bigger things to focus their attention on, like running government.
He also added that it defied logic why Mr Mokhothu could make such allegations which degraded his dignity as a prominent person in the country.
“I don’t want to comment on the lies that some people are creating, he is a very senior person, and I don’t understand why he likes to always say things that degrade his dignity. There is nothing like that. I don’t understand what kind of thinking that is, from such an important person in the country. It is totally out of order,” Mr Shelile said.
But, Mr Mokhothu said they were going to petition the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Safety and Nutrition to lift the unfortunate ban, and vowed to seek intervention from the courts of law, on the grounds that the move to ban poultry products from South Africa to Lesotho was “a strategic plan for rich ministers to create opportunities for themselves at the expense of small Basotho businesses”.
He said South Africa had the biggest market of poultry than Lesotho yet that country’s poultry farmers from uncontaminated regions could still supply the country.
“Not all farms in South Africa have been infected by the flu. Why can’t Lesotho also buy from the same farms which supply South Africa with flue free poultry at their own set standards agreed by the two governments?” He quipped.
“… unless selfish ministers want to hijack the poultry market.”
The DC leader added that instead of pursuing their own interests, Mr Matekane and his government could inject cash so that existing local poultry farmers are capacitated to import chicken from elsewhere in the world.
DC, Mr Mokhothu noted, understood the frustrations of the poultry farmers and traders, and were aware of the negative impact of the ban on their businesses.
Therefore, DC could not sit around and watch the government toying around with people’s lives “while trying to create bigger opportunities for their own benefit as they do with tenders”.
“We have seen their corrupt allocation of tenders for a while now, people just get awarded tenders on a silver platter without bidding, from the flower planting project in town, to removing government’s vehicles from being fixed by Toyota to their own member of parliament’s, Cloete Mdlokane’s mechanical company Mdlokovana Motor Spares & Tyre Maserum. Now they want to steal food out of Basotho’s mouth,” Mr Mokhothu said.
“We have already drafted a letter which we intend to handover to the ministry of agriculture granting them a probationary period within which to come up with solutions to the poultry ban. Failure to do so will see us fighting the matter in court.”
However, Mr Shelile insisted that the government had better things to do than hijack the poultry business from Basotho.
“There is no one interested to take advantage of the situation because as cabinet ministers, we are busy running this country. It’s a fulltime job. I don’t know how they were running this country. If they think that other people have time to go into new businesses like poultry, we don’t have time for that,” Mr Shelile said.
The trade and industry minister further asserted that the government had made a responsible decision to protect the entire nation from contamination and risked having the economy suppressed as Lesotho’s international trade corridors would be closed by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).
He however said chicken had begun to be moderately imported into Lesotho as other businesspeople were sourcing the commodity from other countries.
“Businesspeople have started to import chicken from other countries and the permits are already being issued, as long as the chicken is not from South Africa,” Mr Shelile said.
He explained that Lesotho would not purchase chicken from South Africa until WOAH had declared that country Influenza free because “failure to abide by that will affect other trades like wool and mohair, we will be sanctioned, and we will be affected even more than we are affected now.”
“But chicken is already coming from other countries like eSwatini, and I am expecting KFC to start operating this week or next week,” he said.
Meanwhile, the newly unveiled United African Transformation (UAT) leader, Mahali Phamotse, lashed out during a press briefing on Tuesday morning at the new party’s headquarters, repeating Mr Mokhothu’s allegations that cabinet ministers were planning to capture the poultry business and supply the commodity through their own businesses hence the prolonged span of the poultry ban.
“We have learnt that some ministers are planning to supply chicken in the country through their own companies,” Dr Phamotse said, adding that the government was creating poverty instead of providing solutions.
“The government prides itself with tender recruitments based on nepotism. Ministers allocate big and small tenders within their circles, without adhering to procurement procedures,” she said.
“They create more poverty in the country by denying farmers fertilizers and blocking chances for poultry farmers. It is in this government where MPs who are aligned to government are encouraged to take up government tenders, while ordinary Basotho will be awarded where they (MPs) do not have interest.”
The poultry ban has infuriated poultry farmers, especially after the South African Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development announced availability of eggs and other poultry products in South Africa a fortnight ago.
In an expression of their rage, they petitioned parliament to urge the government to speedily open borders and allow them to buy poultry products from South Africa.
However, the Minister of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition, Thabo Mofosi had argued in the National Assembly just before parliament adjourned on Monday last week, that the government could not risk opening the borders for poultry products until South Africa had thoroughly taken control over the bird flu.
Mr Mofosi advised farmers to seek chick and poultry products from other countries such as Botswana, eSwatini, Namibia, Brazil, Turkey etc, but not South Africa.
