'Poor waste management led to tannery Closure'

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Monday April 18, 2011 00:00

'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).

Molebatsi said that the tannery is located in a residential area and therefore posed a threat to public heath. He said that at the time the waste discharge pipeline failed, the decision was made to cease Wetblue processing rather than to attempt to finance its refurbishment in light of the long term threats outlined above. 'Due to the issues regarding the management of waste from the tannery, BMC could not sell the tannery as a going concern for Wetblue processing. Also, the BDC was not interested in purchasing the facility with the obligation to address environmental concerns despite the fact that it is a partner in TIB,' he said.

He said that BMC has floated tenders inviting technical partners who would together with BMC work on an environmentally suitable and financially sustainable model of processing hides and skins including country hides from sources other than BMC.

Meanwhile, Parliament recently passed an amendment to the Hides and Skins Act. It was during debates on the bill that MPs called for revival of TIB to create sustainable jobs to address unemployment and poverty.