'Poor waste management led to tannery Closure'

"The BMC Wetblue Tannery was closed in 2006 due to a number of long term threats to its financial viability, particularly associated with the management of waste from the facility. Wetblue processing uses a considerable amount of chemicals that are toxic to the environment (eg Chronium)," Assistant Minister of Agriculture Oreeditse Molebatsi said.

He was responding to a question from Shoshong Member of Parliament (MP) Phillip Makgalemele, who wanted to know why the tannery was closed, which closure cut supply of raw materials for the tannery industry in Botswana. He also wanted to know why the BMC board and the Ministry of Agriculture could not sell Wetblue Tannery to the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC), as a major partner in Tannery Industries Botswana (TIB).