DVS staff demoralised

OARABILE MOSIKARE
Staff Writer | Friday March 29, 2013 00:00

 

He attributed this to the scarce skills allowance that was included at the DVS. 'When we introduced the scarce skills allowance certificate holders were included but were later removed. This de-motivated them,' said Modisa. He acknowledged that certificate holders are key people.

He also cited lack of resources especially transport as one of the major challenges. 'Lack of transport is an issue. It renders us functionless. We didn't highlight it during our last European Union test. They could have closed us.' The director also picked Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and drugs as threats. He added that FMD is a natural disaster that has contributed a lot to the collapse of the beef industry.

Other challenges he mentioned are elephants and floods that destroy the cordon fences. He told the committee that farmers' compliance to vaccinations is another challenge. Another challenge he mentioned is drought.

'This is going to be a drought year. It has not improved from last year.' Modisa admitted that there were some shortfalls relating to the BMC in the collapse of the BMC and the beef industry. 'There were some shortfalls relating to DVS like traceability system and BMC shortfall. But we adequately addressed the problems.'

He said they de-listed from EU voluntarily and were not under pressure from anybody. He said this is because they wanted to address shortfalls before applying for re-listing. 'We share part of the responsibility for the decline of the beef industry and BMC,' he repeated.  He prayed that if the DVS could be relieved of some responsibility and concentrate only as a regulatory body they could perform better. He decried that DVS is overloaded and it has been like this since independence. He said the department could outsource some of its duties but decried that the problem with outsourcing is that private companies charge exorbitant fees when the government is involved.

He said he did not know that seconding of former DVS directors to the BMC has also contributed to the collapse of the commission. 'Generally, a business is run by a manager.  A person with good managerial skills can run the BMC. Good managers come from every sphere. I can't say the people sent to BMC didn't have managerial skills.'