DURBAN - AI Mawashi SA, a buyer and exporter of livestock, said it had not received an order from Kuwait to continue exporting live animals by sea from South Africa to the Middle East, news that the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) was celebrating.
The NSPCA said it was celebrating the victory on behalf of activists trying to prevent live sheep exports by sea.
On Friday, AI Mawashi SA announced that it had not received an order from Kuwait, the largest international buyer of South African sheep, and that the company, therefore, cannot confirm details for a 2022 quarter one shipment.
AI Mawashi SA spokesperson JP Roodt said: “The Al Messilah is crossing the Indian Ocean en route to Western Australia to collect a consignment of sheep and the vessel will arrive in the Australian live exports city of Fremantle on Saturday, February 19, 2022.”
“The Kuwait feedlot will become stockpiled to full capacity once the vessel offloads its consignment.
“Forecast modelling indicates that the Kuwait feedlot will not require any replenishment any time soon once the Australian consignment arrives. In the event of replenishments, Kuwait will in all likelihood select its Australian affiliate for live animal procurement until South Africa’s government and industry gets its house in order,” Roodt said.
He said South African citizens needed to understand that Australia was the primary supply chain partner for live exports to Kuwait. The Australian livestock industry was scaled to respond to the demands of the Middle East. South Africa was an emerging market and needed to become a partner with Kuwait.
“Concerningly, in South Africa there are systemic issues relating to supply chains and regulations together with inefficiencies from Transnet, echoing concerns raised during the Sona (State of the Nation Address) address,” Roodt said.
He said this situation had for a time soured relationships with the State of Kuwait, the largest international buyer of South African sheep.
“The South African government continues to drag its feet with regards to the guidelines for the transportation of animals by sea. It is now almost a year after stakeholders were invited to comment and make submissions on these draft guidelines,” Roodt said.
He said Al Mawashi SA suffered abnormal financial losses due to NSPCA litigation in the region of R49 million, and on the other hand, there was a lack of meaningful interventions to deal with consumer education in South Africa while no efforts were undertaken to profile and market South African live lamb and sheep as well as chilled lamb and sheep meat in the Middle East.
Roodt added that with a myriad challenges faced in South Africa, Al Mawashi SA had provided an opportunity to South African farmers and remained optimistic about its role and was committed to supplying their customers in the Middle East with both live lambs and sheep together with chilled/frozen lamb and sheep carcasses.
The NSPCA said part B of its application to completely ban the live export of animals by sea from South Africa is still set to be heard in court later this year.
NSPCA executive director Marcelle Meredith said: “Since 2019 the NSPCA has fought tirelessly to protect our animals from being exported live by sea. Despite what appeared to be insurmountable odds, we never gave up. We are elated on learning about this victory, and we are so grateful to everyone who fought on our side. We are going ahead with part B of our application, and with the continued support of the public, we will ensure that no more sheep will be subjected to cruel suffering and no animals will be exported by sea north of the equator!”
The NSPCA called on people to be part of changing history for animals in South Africa by supporting the NSPCA in the battle.
Daily News