Zaka butcheries accused of selling meat from sick and dead animals

Some butcheries in Zaka District and across Masvingo Province are reportedly selling meat from sick and dead animals.

A popular butcher in Jerera is accused of using agents to buy sick and dead cattle at very low prices and profiting from people’s desperation.

The trade has become notorious as January Disease continues to ravage the district. The death of thousands of cattle in recent years has sharply reduced the herd, making it difficult for butcheries to find healthy animals for slaughter.

Sources told TellZim News that many people in Jerera no longer buy meat from local butcheries.

“We no longer buy meat here. I prefer to buy in Chivamba or Gumbo. There are butcheries that I trust there,” said one source.

Posing as a seller, TellZim News spoke to a butcher who said he does not buy dead animals but will buy sick ones.

“Yakafa hatitori, dai iri mhenyu ichirwara hayo ok. (We don’t buy dead animals; if it was live but then it was sick, that’s okay),” said the butcher.

This suggests sick animals are being slaughtered and sold to unsuspecting customers, posing a health risk. Sources said the problem is not unique to Zaka but is common across the province.

Efforts to get comment from Zaka Rural District Council chief executive David Majaura on measures to curb the practice were unsuccessful as his phone went unanswered.

A source at the council said the local authority currently has no Environmental Health Technician and relies on the Ministry of Health and Child Care to inspect meat.

“We don’t have an EHT at the moment as council. However, we rely on the Ministry of Health and Child Care to inspect the meat in Zaka and Jerera,” the source said.

Zaka District Environmental Health Officer Ephison Chikomo said inspection is the mandate of the Ministry of Health and that his office is doing what it can, but some people may still be selling unfit meat.

He said Zaka has no abattoir, so butchery owners slaughter animals on their own premises and are supposed to call his office to inspect the meat upon payment of a fee.

“At law, the meat is inspected by the EHT. Zaka District has no abattoir where butcheries can slaughter cattle. So those who run butcheries do call us to inspect their meat upon paying requisite fees,” said Chikomo.

He said cattle numbers are now so low that his office sometimes goes a week without a call to inspect meat, and he could not rule out that some butcheries are selling uninspected meat from dead or sick animals.

“We try our best, but we cannot rule out that some could be selling uninspected meat. That is unlawful, and anyone caught will be prosecuted,” he said.