BMC PRIVATISATION ONGOING

The Public Enterprises Evaluation and Privatisation Agency (PEEPA) was tasked with leading the process of privatising Botswana Meat Commission after the decision to that effect was made in February 2018, the Botswana Gazette has established.

But in privatising the BMC, government decided to retain the Maun Abattoir for strategic purposes. Addressing a press conference in Gaborone last Friday, the chief executive of PEEPA Ezekiel Moumakwa, said the Maun Abattoir – which serves in cattle disease-prone Red Zone of the North West District – would not be privatised along with the Lobatse and Francistown abattoirs.

Moumakwa explained that the Maun Abattoir is strategically placed to deter farmers from smuggling cattle from the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) infested areas into the Green Zone because this would endanger Botswana’s entire beef industry. In sparing it from privatisation, government will engage a strategic partner to operate the Maun Abattoir through a concession agreement for which Deloitte Consulting has been selected astransaction advisors.

The separation of the Maun Abattoir is just one part of the privatisation of the whole BMC in a process whose next step will involve registering the BMC as a limited liability company under the Companies Act, developing a strategy that provides various options of how the BMC can be privatised, as well as recommending and implementing the optimal privatisation method after approval by Cabinet.

“After a rigorous tendering and selection process, I am proud to announce that Minchin & Kelly have been selected as the preferred consultants for the privatisation of BMC,” Moumakwa said.