BRE REFUSES GOVERNMENT PLANS TO SLAUGHTER ALL CATTLE IN BAROTSELAND, TELLS THE MINISTRY OF LIVESTOCK AND FISHERIES TO START FIRST COMPENSATING THE AFFECTED CATTLE FARMERS
By Barotseland Broadcasting Network
Reporter,
The Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE), has advised the Ministry of livestock and fisheries to start first COMPENSATING the Barotse Cattle farmers before slaughtering the cattle in Barotseland.
In a meeting which was summoned and chaired by the Ngambela Mukela Manyando yesterday 2nd August ,2020 in Limulunga Royal village between the BRE, officers from the Ministry of livestock and fisheries and the Barotse Cattle farmers to discuss as to why the Zambian Government through the Ministry Livestock and fisheries was targeting to slaughter cattles in Barotseland in pretexts of controlling Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) a highly contagious respiratory disease of cattle found in most sub-saharan African countries. Ngambela Mukela Manyando advised the Ministry of livestock and fisheries to put to hold their plans and allow sensitization and more engagement on the matter with the relevant stakeholders is done because the matter had serious issues which needed to be addressed before government goes ahead with their plans.
Ngambela Manyando said it was unfortunate that Government wanted to undertake such serious move without engaging the parties and other relevant stakeholders to ascertain the merits and demerits of the matter. Ngambela Manyando wondered as to why Government was so much in a hurry to slaughter cattle in Barotseland instead of first starting with compensating the affected farmers.
Meanwhile, some cattle farmers who also attended the meeting yesterday in Limulunga told off the Ministry of livestock and fisheries that they will not allow the evil schemes by the Zambian Government to SLAUGHTER their cattle in pretext of controlling cattle disease without compensation at all.
The cattle farmers indicated that the scheme to slaughter cattle in pretext of controlling the CBPP disease in Barotseland was a deliberate scheme by the Zambian Government aimed at wiping out all cattle in Barotseland so that the people of the region can remain more poor and poorer.
Early July this year the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock through Vet and Police in Nkeyema District invaded a certain farmer’s kraal by surprise and slaughtered 57 cattle in the pretext of controlling the CBPP disease. The farmer resisted but was handcraft and tied as they slaughtered all his animals while he watched and crying.