Investigate sale of shrinking and rotten chicken! - Nzimande

Investigate the sale of shrinking and rotten chicken!

We start our 90th anniversary year facing one of the most critical challenges in our revolution, that of safeguarding its ideological integrity and values as a critical platform to wage, in the short term, an effective local government election campaign for an ANC overhelming victory, and in the medium to longer term, to defend its radical character as the most immediate route to a transition to socialism.

We closed the year 2010 with a shocking revelation of how one of the largest poultry producers in our country, Supreme Poultry, is selling rotten chicken to unsuspecting consumers. Contrary to what ordinary South Africans would have expected, the other meat producers closed ranks, and defended this fraudulent, if not criminal, activity as having broken no law of our country! At the very least the meat producers association should have committed itself to investigate this scandal, otherwise one is left with an uncomfortable question of what else do they know that we do not know?

The bourgeois print media also turned one blind eye to the seriousness of this matter, despite an open admission by Supreme Poultry, that indeed it does sell rotten chicken, but not to the big supermarket chains, instead to 'cheap wholesalers' and spaza shops. Indeed what this means is simply that rotten meat is being resold to the majority of black South Africans, most of whom buy their food from these 'cheap' wholesalers and the thousands of spaza shops in both urban and rural areas.

For the ill-informed, this would be regarded as ideological hypocrisy by the bourgeois establishment and its meat producers. Yet for the SACP this shows the extent to which the capitalist system is prepared to go to make profits at any (rotten) costs! If anything, the stance of the meat producers leaves one with an uneasy feeling that this may perhaps just be the tip of the iceberg and that there is a very real possibility that such practices maybe more widespread in the food industry.

Sections of the media have tried to ridicule our very serious call for government to launch an urgent investigation into this matter, and for the necessary punitive measures to be taken. We also hope that parliament would be interested in investigating this matter as well.

Perhaps this is a reflection of the extent to which our revolution is ideologically vulnerable, especially from those who benefit from the capitalist system, both inside and outside the ranks of our movement. This should perhaps also act as a clarion call to our movement, especially the SACP, to intensify the ideological offensive against racism and the capitalist system itself.

The liberal constitutionalists, who in recent times have been parading themselves as the biggest defenders of our constitution have been completely silent about this scandal. Perhaps their silence serves to expose the fact that liberal constitutionalists care less about the poor than to safeguard the interests of the elites in society. Selling rotten meat to poor black South Africans is a very serious affront to the dignity of millions of our people!

Of course we should all be careful not to create a public scare in dealing with this matter. But at the same time, this is indeed a very, very serious matter. And there are very sound reasons for the SACP to call for a full investigation into this matter.

Going through the website of Country Bird Holdings (CBH), the company that owns Supreme Poultry, there are some disturbing and interesting observations that one makes. In all of the recent coverage by the media, there is no mention of the fact that it was reported in South African media in April last year that the Zimbabwean government has banned all poultry importation from South Africa.

The press article in April reported in the Star reported the matter as follows

"The Zimbabwean Poultry Association (ZPA) has alleged that South African and South American poultry were heavily injected with a brine saltwater solution, to levels as high as 40%... The solution increased bird weight when frozen, but it seeped out before or during cooking, leaving the actual meat content at 60-70% of the original weight, the ZPA said.

"The association said it also suffered of unfair competition because South African chickens were fed genetically modified maize ingredients, which compromised the quality of the meat".

Instead of challenging these serious allegations about the quality of our poultry which led to the Zimbabwean government taking a decision to ban the importation of South African poultry, a senior executive of Supreme Poultry, is quoted in the same article as saying that "I think it's because we are more efficient than them... He added that this is absolutely a business decision and has nothing to do with animal health or with GM maize". It is also an interesting co-incidence that it was Zimbabwe that took this action, when a number of the directors of both Supreme Poulty and CBH are Zimbabwean expatriates or have had some Zimbabwean connection!

This response is no different from current responses from the same company when the scandal of the sale of rotten chicken was exposed. Instead of confronting the allegations and putting us at ease, they instead pointed out that there is nothing illegal in selling rotten chicken, particularly, we suppose, if these are sold to 'cheap' wholesalers and spaza shops!

Incidentally, in the day to day campaigning work that the SACP is doing through its 'Know Your Neighbourhood Campaign' we have come across complaints, especially in parts of northern KwaZulu-Natal, on the problem of shrinking poultry once it is defrosted or cooked, but we could not explain the reason for this. Could the allegations by the Zimbabwe Poultry Association be our answer to this 'strange' phenomenon of shrinking chicken?

It is also very interesting that in its own 2009 annual report, Country Bird Holdings reports an increase in its operating profit of a whopping 354%, from R41m to R186m, all in one financial year! In the same report, it is also said that whilst the average increase in the price of poultry in South Africa was around 19%, that of CBH was around 22%. Why?

The SACP also takes this matter very seriously for three other reasons. Firstly, why, if this a perfectly legal trading practice to resell rotten chicken, is this not reflected on the chicken itself and for consumers to be told about this? This matter has only come to fore as a result of a whistleblower, who is reportedly being legally pursued by the company concerned.

Secondly, a matter that the media has not picked up, is that, Supreme Poultry are also reported to be suppliers to Nandos and Kentucky Fried Chicken! Most seriously, is that such practices, if not properly investigated can damage the reputation of South Africa as a meat exporting country, thus placing at risk thousands of workers' jobs.

The SACP will not rest until this matter has been fully investigated and appropriate action taken.

Phansi ngezinkukhu ezibolile!

Asikhulume

Blade Nzimande is SACP general secretary. This article first appeared in the Party's online journal, Umsebenzi Online.

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter

Services Subscribe to newsletters News feeds Share this article Facebook Google Laaik.it Yahoo! Digg del.icio.us

Comments

If you come across comments that are injurious, defamatory, profane, off-topic or inappropriate; contain personal attacks or racist, sexist, homophobic, or other slurs, please report them and they will be removed.

 

responses to this article

more than anything Blade sweetie is your need to use better grammar ; your opening sentence was, whew, far tooooo long. by kay on January 05 2011, 21:10 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

What a childish article Some ethically challenged company does dodgy things to the chicken it sells to equally rapacious shopkeepers, and the whole thing is trotted out as a failure of the capitalist system rather than a failure of governance and law enforcement by the . .more inept ANC government and its lazy and incompetent cadres. In apartheid times the miscreants who dared perpetrate such an act would have found themselves having to deal with the health and regulatory authorities; under the ANC government all that happens is a lot of screeching from the SACP and COSATU, and the ANC-connected cadres behind this go scot free. Of course, under an SACP government there wouldn't have been any chicken to sell in the first place! . .less by mpho on January 05 2011, 21:12 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

To the editor" Moneyweb" Dear sir, as an entrepreneur I am always interested in new ventures. Do you think there is any money to be made in selling exclamation marks to Mr Blade Nzimande. I would appreciate your comment at your earliest opportunity. by Plutarch on January 05 2011, 21:41 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

a diversion... to try take attention away from education results this week???? by onlooker on January 06 2011, 00:44 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Schizophrenia? Blade's mixing of weird Marxist terminology with the details of an ordinary case of dishonest business practices, had me in stitches. But also utterly confused. Is he accusing the chickens of being bourgeois or the bourgeoisie of being chickens? Comrade . .more Blade's outpourings are becoming stranger by the day and are beginning to resemble the meaningless jumble of words -- the so-called word salad -- typical of some schizophrenics. Has the SACP finally gone bonkers? Blade's grammar and syntax are also off the rails -- perhaps he should get dear old Aunty Jeremy with his private-school education to edit his writings before he goes to press? What I find truly shocking is not the recycling of chickens (so long as reasonable safety standards are adhered to), but that so many animals are slaughtered for nothing -- to be discarded as garbage. Perhaps our disregard for the sanctity of life begins in our slaughterhouses? . .less by Sam vd Berg on January 06 2011, 01:18 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

unlike the headless chickens, blade nzimande, can take refuge in excess such as luxury vehicles & hotel bills, footed by taxpayers & vat payers - without even suggesting motor vehicle & hotelier capitalists be investigated with his explanation marks (codes for scientific socialism?)(!) - while long hidden rot under . .more sacp feathers continues to be marketed away from public eyes. One would hope a national minister of higher education could be more interesting, instead of endless arrogant undergraduate tirades. Maybe he should retire back to the self-protecting monopolies of his party, maybe the blab could even join blad, though salary & perk cuts might be daunting, at least hidden sacp corruptions might give him the psychological security he so obviously pursues.... . .less by gab ok on January 06 2011, 04:50 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

rotten chicken i find it disgusting that all most all the comments are against what cde Blade is raising , why because the company that is under scrutiny is owned by whites or that the meat being sold to wholesalers ends at the township ? stop being hypocrites you silly . .more people, if it was a black person doing all this there would have been a chorus already of "the law must take its course " but now that whites are involved its better to attack anybody who raises the issue . . .less by ben on January 06 2011, 06:28 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

pantomime is it true that the blithering, blathering fool, Nzimande, is actually the Minister for Higher (???!!!***) Education. Goodness gracious me; with a fool like this in charge of skools we will soon have a really gud komunist level of kleverkids. No . .more wonder mary metcalf resigned after being given a hefty push--- she obviously spoke a short sentence consisting of words of no more than two syllables to the nutty Minister and he didn't understand a thing, got all upset, and behaved in true african democratic ways by throwing his toys out of the cot . This lot of clowns make Boswell wilkie circus look like rank amateurs. . .less by Cassandra on January 06 2011, 06:37 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

A question about headless Roosters . . . .Have they found the R500,000 that went missing?. . . . by PreBorn on January 06 2011, 07:02 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Fowl arguments by Blade Hey Ben, I'm a whitey and I thoroughly condemn what Supreme has been doing. The problem is that Blade ("Bongingkosi") has negated his case by confounding it with retro marxist jargon and claptrap - as well as lies. This has diverted the comments posted . .more here to the comical and hysterical rantings of old Snake Eyes, rather than the issue at hand. For example, he repeatedly mentions that the chicken is rotten. This is not true. It is substandard, old, underweight, fraudulently manipulated and generally, in my view, unfit for sale, but rotten it is not. It is difficult to take this commie clown seriously when he can't even give us the truth. Now that this social misfit has vented his ire on what I regard as a scandal that needs to be exorcised, I hope he will also expose or address other scandals - like the mysterious fate of R500K delivered to his person in a black refuse bag and his squandering of millions of other people's money on luxury cars for him to swan around in in capitalist opulence. . .less by Graham on January 06 2011, 08:52 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Stupidity Rather engage the content of the article than grammar used and other petty issues (Kay). The issue at hand is that it is alleged that there is a company that is selling "rotten chicken" to consumers and that the Zimbabwean Poultry Association has banned . .more SA Poultry for reasons contained in the article. Do not use this platform to expose your immaturity and stupidity. There is nothing political about selling "rotten chicken". As for Graham, you think like a two year old child and that to me will only make an over-grown child. Blade is only calling for an investigation into the said allegations. Graham has already investigated and he is purporting to be sharing his findings with us (Mampara). As for Preborn, did you see R500k in the article? You name says a lot. I hope the Dept of Heath will do something about this. . .less by Objective on January 06 2011, 09:53 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Feathered Agents This racist chickens must be defeated! We call on all revolutionary forces to work hard towards the transformation of these chickens! They are Bloody Agents, and a sinister force of the capitalist West! Pansi KFC, Pansi! by Janus on January 06 2011, 09:59 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Chicken a la King Give blunt Blade a rotten chicken he deserves it after what he has done to higher education. Blade leave the chickens alone and attend to the job at hand. by Koos on January 06 2011, 10:35 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Yeah, well none of you mentioned that this chicken thing is according to internationally approved practice, distasteful as it sounds. So probably no health regulation has been broken. by John-Michael on January 06 2011, 10:43 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

CASSANDRA ,GET A LIFE You cannot be talking like these to a Minister,I know that during apartheid you could not criticise anything,you were indoctrinated into believing that communists are devils,but Blade is right ,we cannot allow our poor people to be fed rubbish in the name . .more of Capitalism. . .less by ZM on January 06 2011, 10:59 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Global Capitalist Racism raises its ugly head once again Comrade Blade is correct and should continue to inspire us with such comments. It is true that it is the global capitalist racism that encourages this dehumanization and abuse of people at the expense of prift making. Comrade Blade will ridiculed by those . .more who defends the capitalist system but that is expected, for example one of those defenders questions his ability to write Engilish, of course English is not comrade Blade's first language nor is it mine but the facts are put clearly. Capitalist system is the foundation of our social and economic problems, including the racially polorazed society that we have inherited from apartheid hence one of the contributors still has apartheid hangover. Global capitalist racism is a global phenomenon and has entrenched itself just after the feudal system became obsolete and has brought about the era of slavery up to the era of apartheid and now to the era of selling rotten chickens to unsuspecting majority of the population, and it is not racism in terms of colour but class. The reason why colour took centre stage globally and here is that the capitalist needed a justification to exploit a certain group of people, such as in the case of slavery, and the best justification was that their colour was different from our and as such inferior and ready for exploitation and abuse. . .less by Arnold Phasha on January 06 2011, 11:43 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@ ZM I take it then that you would be happy for our poor people to be fed rubbish in the name of Communism or National Socialism? of course you will respond in the negative to my point and boldly assert that Communism will always supply only the highest . .more possible standards of gustationary delights to the populace. perhaps you will make glowing reference to the nutritional standards of North Korea or Cuba. Frankly sir you talk rubbish . .less by Cassandra on January 06 2011, 13:14 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

chickens People like Blade are beyond parody. by witbooi on January 06 2011, 14:02 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

And while you at it comrade Blade, please ask the Government to investigate Why God or Nature have these white tendencies of striking lightning at poor Black Poople only! by Comrade Citizen on January 06 2011, 14:57 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Objective Don't be such a nincompoop - if you don't know what the reference to R500000 means then you don't belong on this site. Objective you certainly are not. This is nothing but commie-inspired claptrap. The company, a publicly listed entity, is . .more adamant that the sale of reworked chickens falls within the scope of the health regualtions and no laws have been broken. So if a bunch of shady township merchants buy a batch of reworked chicken from Supreme what were they expecting to get? Grade A Farmer Brown? @Ben. Don't be a dickkkhead! How do you know who owns CBH? Its shares are traded on the JSE and even a twat like you can purchase them. . .less by Vinny on January 06 2011, 15:17 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Not interested in dead chickens As a liberal, I do not eat chicken or anything else that had a face. I am a liberal but also a vegan. So, clean up your stinky chicken story by yourself, this is not a political issue or an issue to struggle over. Rather have some tofu. by Liberal on January 06 2011, 15:51 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Why did the chicken ... ? This "new" saga has all the halmarks of the "storm in a toilet" saga in Cape Town. Both have been blown out of proportion and are being used to make political hay. When there is good governance ministers do not comment on the . .more portfolios of other Ministers for the simple reason that they may not have all the facts at their disposal. Blade should have kept his council or raised it privately with the Minister of Health or whoever is responsible in this case. Mpho's comments above are spot on but when the ANC is involved the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing, nor does it want to know. . .less by James Bell on January 06 2011, 16:23 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Vinny Did u even read the article? Moron. The R500K plastic bag arrangement has nothing to do with the debate at hand "rotten chickens". Engage the ideas and not the person. by Objective on January 06 2011, 17:04 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

CASSIE,YOU KNOW NO POVERTY Its our brothers ,mothers,sisters ,cousins who are fed those chickens.They are not sold in Umhlanga but KwaMashu ,Maoti etc.You know nothing about the poor people or being poor.When Jan came in 1652 he had nothing,no chickens,no cattle ,no land but got . .more them here in our country from us.THE BOTTOM LINE is that Capitalism favours the rich vis-a-vis the poor,only a moron can dispute that. . .less by ZULUMACANSI on January 06 2011, 17:50 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Ben, @Objective, @Vinny Blade said : "We closed the year 2010 with a shocking revelation of how one of the largest poultry producers in our country, Supreme Poultry, is selling rotten chicken to unsuspecting consumers." Ben, whites in general don't give a . .more toss what the race of the criminal is; if the law has been broken, then let whoever is responsible be brought to book. I am assuming it's illegal to sell "rotten" meat to the public. If it is not, the ANC is a rotten government and the Minister of Health should be fired, and Blade should blame the ANC, or shut up. According to Vinny, Supreme is legally selling "re-worked" chicken to retailers. If this is true, Blade is a liar; he claims Supreme is selling "rotten" chicken. If Blade is lying, what else might he have lied about in the past? That R500000 in a black bag Willie Madisha claims he delivered to Blade, which Blade denied? Perfectly in order for Vinny to have reminded us of this. Contrary to what ordinary South Africans would have expected, the other meat producers closed ranks, and defended this fraudulent, if not criminal, activity as having broken no law of our country! At the very least the meat producers association should have committed itself to investigate this scandal, otherwise one is left with an uncomfortable question of what else do they know that we do not kno . .less by mpho on January 06 2011, 23:17 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

re : Last paragraph above : That is what Blade had to say. Blade seems to be saying it's fraudulent but legal to sell rotten chicken meat to the public, and that the meat producers rather than the Government should investigate this. This is a lazy deployed . .more cadre passing the buck and trying to make political capital out of the debacle by pretending the practice is a failure of capitalism and not of proper regulation and law enforcement. And this is the Minister of "Higher" Education. GROAN. . .less by mpho on January 06 2011, 23:31 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@ZuluMacansi@Cassie&PovertyEtc... ....ZM concluded in his above post "When Jan came in 1652 he had nothing,no chickens, no cattle, no land but got them here in our country from us.THE BOTTOM LINE is that Capitalism favours the rich vis-a-vis the poor, only a moron can dispute . .more that". This blogger did dispute ZM's bald bs with with a few facts concerning SA's national herds & chicken breeding stock (& the non-indigenous cosmos flowers lining major motor routes on historical wagon trails), which gives a quite different angle on ZM's understanding of what constitutes a "moron". Seeing later posts to mine now above, it seems my blog was pulled. As my response was not "injurious, defamatory, profane, off-topic or inappropriate; and contained no personal attack or racist, sexist, homophobic, or other slurs", I am left wondering why POLITICSWEB saw fit to pull it ? Chikurubi Jongwe Survivor . .less by John Austin on January 07 2011, 09:43 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@ mpho Yep, mpho, Blade is an idiot. Sad but true. by Alto on January 07 2011, 10:02 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Ben@Vinny@whichRacistCapitalists? My rudimentary googling of the ownership trail finds MVELEPHANDA HLDGS are amongst the big players in the ultimate corporate ownership of the public paent company. Filthy Racist Capitalists, hey ? Neo Imperialism, Racist Capitalism, . .more or Communist Plot, ne.... you choose, comrades. Re-worked @ Chikurubi by JongwePF enterprises . .less by John Austin on January 07 2011, 10:55 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Mount Nelson Communist I think Blade's staying at the Mount Nelson Hotel sums up all communists. To get an authentic picture of the man I think we should henceforth refer to him as the Mount Nelson Communist (MNC). by Qinton Parker on January 07 2011, 11:15 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Rotten chickens For the passed few months I have had a battle to find tinned food, that my dog and cats, will eat. Makes me wonder what there is in the food, considering they have never turned away from their meals. by Open minded on January 07 2011, 12:32 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Plutarch@ExclamationMarks! I wish you every success in your proposed entrepreneurial venture, and trust you have sufficient bulk tocks of Exclamation Marks to satisfy any surge in demand. By way of mutual business co-operation, I should mention that I currently hold . .more the Southern African franchise for "leaders" (....) and "brackets" ( { [ ] } ). Should your own customer base require any of same, I am happy to sub-franchise marketing of my lines through your good offices for reasonable & mutual advantage (assuming your BEE score is up to scratch.....). Sincerely, Chikurubi Kite Mark Ent. . .less by John Austin on January 08 2011, 10:46 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Name
Subject
Comment