FMD freeze cripples Swakop Abattoir

The Swakop Abattoir, the only abattoir in the coastal town, has not slaughtered an animal since 23 September, the day the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak was announced.Three weeks later it has no carcasses left, 25 of its 60 workers are on leave, and last week its trucks did not go out on deliveries.“We’re hanging in the air. We don’t know,” owner Bernhard Frankenfeld told Namibian Sun.He said the abattoir planned to slaughter the week after the outbreak but was told to wait.To keep supplying its regular customers, it bought the carcasses of 54 cattle from Meatco for N$1.67 million, or N$108 per kilogram. A week before the outbreak, it paid about N$960 000 for 54 cattle at auction. The usual price is N$68 to N$70 a kilogram.“It was a very big chance that we took,” Frankenfeld said. Its rump steak went from N$160 to N$170 per kilogram to between N$280 and N$340. He said customers fought over how many carcasses each would get.“It just shows you how people were panicking because of meat," he said.Costs risingHe asked residents not to blame those who raised prices.“People mustn’t complain about prices going up, especially on Facebook,” he said. “You’ve got to work at a profit, not at a loss.”Workers with leave days owed were sent on leave for a month.“You try to explain the situation to them, I don’t think they really realise how bad it is. There’s no income,” Frankenfeld said.He said the business is losing “a few million in a week” while it continues to pay its creditors.“If this thing goes on for two months, three months, you’re done," he fears.The transporter in Windhoek who brings the abattoir’s animals has seven trucks standing.“Whether you’re big or small, the bigger you are, the more you lose,” Frankenfeld said.He said even his competitors cannot tell him what is happening.“If somebody asks me, I say, don’t ask me anymore. Just go on Facebook and see what you want to do.”Govt must decideHe said the disease has to be brought under control but called for a decision on when slaughtering may resume.“They should also put their foot down and decide what’s going to happen and when it’s going to happen. They can’t take a month to just take a decision," he advised.He said he is not a vet but believes the south should have been quarantined and the rest of the country allowed to continue: “They’re halting the whole country."The abattoir was built by the municipality, which slaughtered pigs there. It stood closed for 15 years before Frankenfeld, who worked at another abattoir, reopened it in 2011 after three months of rebuilding.“You know what a place looks like when it’s closed for 15 years,” he said.The abattoir slaughters cattle, sheep, goats and pigs, but not game. It makes Russians, viennas, polony, biltong and droëwors. It supplies butcheries, supermarkets, the Primo meat shop on its premises, and agents who supply cruise ships and fishing vessels.

FMD freeze cripples Swakop Abattoir

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Namibian Sun 2026-10-19

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FMD freeze cripples Swakop Abattoir

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Namibian Sun 2026-10-19

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