The Minister of Industrialisation and Trade (MIT), Lucia Iipumbu, will on Friday visit the Kavango Cattle Ranch (KCR) in the Kavango West Region following the death of close to 18 cattle last month due to alleged neglect.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Executive Officer of the Namibia Industrial Development Agency (NIDA) Heinrich Mihe Gaomab II on 09 August 2022, Iipumbu’s visit is to assess the situation on the ground and requested that senior officers from the agency form part of her delegation.

The KCR is a government parastatal farm conglomerate administered by NIDA. It is approximately 168,900 hectares in size and comprised of over 40 individual farms primarily for livestock production.

In the letter seen by this agency, Iipumbu said: ‘The ministry has noted recent information circulating through video clips on social media with regard to livestock and game mortalities due to thirst at the ranch.’

MIT she said has also taken note of media releases by NIDA and thus has resolved that it is prudent from the policy level perspective to engage on the matter.

Last week Gaomab was part of a delegation led by Finance minister Ipumbu Shiimi that visited the farm.

During the visit to the farm, five cattle carcasses from the 18 were found at a water point. The delegation also found that most of the dams were empty and that workers had moved out to avoid elephant attacks.

Gaomab II informed the minister that the agency had cash flow problems and that the employees had also not received an increment in the past three years.

Shiimi said the KCR has assets and cattle thus all it needs is good management to become a success.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency