In an interview with The Monitor, the manager of Sandy's Butchery, Irene Moshokgo, said Selebei-Phikwe's meat industry was "treading or sitting on thin ice" in the aftermath of the countrywide ban imposed on open barbeques two years ago. Moshokgo said Selebi-Phikwe Town Council (SPTC) had made the situation worse by re-introducing the booking system under which butcheries must register and pay for the number of cattle they intend to slaughter on the day in advance.
"The system is not fair because we register cattle that we are yet to buy from the farmers," she said. "In most instances, we don't get the number of cattle we registered and paid for, but the council does not refund us."Moshokgo, who is the proprietor of Selebi-Phikwe's oldest butchery, described a dilemma in which tribal administration would not give butchery operators clearance for unregistered animals. Meat stocks were also down at most butcheries because the council abattoir slaughtered only 60 cattle a day, while there were 72 butcheries in Selebi-Phikwe. Moshokgo said if the manpower was the cause of the capacity constraints, the abattoir could increase its slaughter fees.
