South Africa

Al Mawashi plans another live animal shipment from SA

Since late 2019, Al Mawashi had exported a total of about 170 000 live animals by ship from South Africa, with the vast majority of these sheep for slaughter and consumption in Kuwait and other Middle Eastern countries.

Posted on Dec 21 ,06:07

Despite being criticized by South Africa’s National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) and its supporters and facing legal actions aimed at achieving a permanent halt of shipboard livestock exports from South Africa, Al Mawashi, a Kuwaiti importer of livestock, is preparing another shipment, the fourth, in the first quarter of 2021.
"The exporting of domesticated ruminants, including cattle and sheep, from South Africa to the Middle East, is a strategic long-term project by Al Mawashi for Middle Eastern food security and for South Africa/Middle East trade relations. Significant investments have been made to establish the industry in South Africa. Abandoning live exports is not an option for Al Mawashi South Africa. There is a long-term vision to undertake four to six shipments per year from South Africa and to have a well-established industry contributing to our economy. It is also to give the emerging livestock farmers the opportunity to be part of this industry," said Al Mawashi South Africa's spokesperson JP Roodt, quoted by Farmer’s Weekly.
The NSPCA launched various legal attempts to have Al Mawashi’s exports stopped, and continued to attempt to achieve a permanent ban on any future livestock exports by sea from South Africa.
The NSPCA had cited numerous allegations of animal health and welfare abuses associated with such exports to date, while Al Mawashi repeatedly disputed and defended the company against these. In August 2020, a court order issued by the Grahamstown High Court authorised the third export shipment and also made the NSPCA liable for Al Mawashi’s legal fees for contesting the matter.

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