FACULTY OF ARTS

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

DISSERTATION TOPIC:

THE HISTORY, CHALLENGES AND DEVELOPMENTS OF THE MATABELELAND

BEEF INDUSTRY, 1980 - 2010

BY

LEROY Z NDLOVU

R162085M

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE BACHELOR OF ARTS HONOURS DEGREE IN HISTORY

AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES.

SUPERVISOR: MR G.T. NCUBE

NOVEMBER 2019

i
Table of Contents
.........................................................................................................................................................iv

APPROVAL FORM.........................................................................................................................iv

Declaration............................................................................................................................................v

Acknowledgements...............................................................................................................................vi

List of acronyms..................................................................................................................................vii

Glossary of terms................................................................................................................................viii

Abstract.................................................................................................................................................ix

Introduction...........................................................................................................................................1

Background of the study........................................................................................................................2

Statement of the problem.......................................................................................................................4

Aims......................................................................................................................................................4

Objectives..............................................................................................................................................5

Research Questions...............................................................................................................................5

Justification of the Study…………...

…………………………………………………………………...6

Delimitations of the Study……………………………………………………………………………...6

Literature review...................................................................................................................................6

Research Methodology..........................................................................................................................7

Dissertation chapter breakdown...........................................................................................................10

Endnotes..............................................................................................................................................11

CHAPTER 1: History and the establishment of the Matabeleland Beef Industry................................12

1.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................12

1.2 The Beginning of the Matabeleland Beef Industry.....................................................................13

1.3 Personalities and Groups Key to the Establishment of the Matabeleland Beef Industry............15

1.4 The Creation of the RECSCO....................................................................................................15

1.5 The Effects of International Sanctions on the Matabeleland Beef Industry...............................16

1.6 The Effects of the War of Liberation on the Matabeleland Beef Industry..................................16

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1.7 Conclusion................................................................................................................................18

Endnotes..............................................................................................................................................20

CHAPTER 2: The Evolution of the Matabeleland Beef Industry........................................................24

2.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................24

2.2 The Different Breeds Associated with the Matabeleland Beef Industry.....................................24

2.3 The Role and Purpose of Cattle..................................................................................................24

2.4 The Role of the Remodelled CSC...............................................................................................28

2.5 Adapting to the Harsh Economic Conditions..............................................................................28

2.6 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................31

Endnotes..............................................................................................................................................33

CHAPTER 3: The Challenges facing the Matabeleland Beef Industry................................................35

3.1 Introduction..............................................................................................................................36

3.2 The disease and pestilence conundrum.....................................................................................37

3.3 Inequality as a problem...............................................................................................................37

3.4 Feeding and Cattle Nutrition.......................................................................................................37

3.5 The Land Issue...........................................................................................................................37

3.6 Coping with the Ugly Side of Mother Nature.............................................................................38

3.7 Conclusion..................................................................................................................................42

Endnotes .............................................................................................................................................45

CHAPTER 4: Assessment Of Policies Aimed at Fixing the Challenges Associated with the
Matabeleland Beef Industry.................................................................................................................46

4.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................................47

4.2 The Impact of Aid in Mitigating Problems Within the Matabeleland Beef Industry..................49

4.3 Governmental Intervention on Problems Associated with the Matabeleland Beef Industry......49

4.4 Conclusion................................................................................................................................49

Endnotes..............................................................................................................................................49

Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................52

BIBLIOGRAPHY...............................................................................................................................52

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MIDLANDS STATE UNIVERSITY

APPROVAL FORM

dissertation entitled: The history, challenges and developments of the Matabeleland beef

industry, 1980 – 2010. The undersigned certify that they have read and supervised the student,

Leroy Ndlovu, the project submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Bachelor of Arts

in History and International Studies Honours Degree.

………………… ……….. …………………………..

Supervisor Date

…………………… …….. …………………………..

Chairperson

…………………… …….. …………………………..

External Examiner

November 2019

iv
Declaration

I LEROY Z NDLOVU wholeheartedly declare that this dissertation is an outcome of my own

original efforts and the investigations of such work have not been presented elsewhere and is

of sound originality.

Leroy Ndlovu

Signature………………………….. Date…………………………..

v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This dissertation was made possible by the encouragement and support from many people,
but due to space it is only eligible I mention a few. I would first like to thank my supervisor
Mr G.T Ncube for the support and intellectual criticism as well as supervision that he gave
me. I owe a debt to the all the lecturers in the history department that gave me the knowledge
and teachings in me to research. Many thanks go to my family for their moral and financial
support for all this to happen. I would also like to thank my friends for their vibrant energy in
supporting and helping me out in any way they could. Lastly I would like to thank the
almighty God for he has been my support and comforter.

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LIST OF ACRONYMS

AGRITEX – Department of Agricultural Technical and Extension Services

AHMC – Animal Health Management Centre
BSAC – British South Africa Company
CSC – Cold Storage Commission
EMA – Environmental Management Agency
FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization
FMD – Foot and Mouth Disease
FTLRP – Fast Track Land Resettlement Programme
LEMCO - Leibig’s Extract of Meat Company
LSCF – Large Scale Commercial Farmers
LWF – Lutheran World Foundation
NGOs – Non Governmental Organizations
PRA – Participatory Rural Appraisals
RECSCO – Rhodesian Export and Cold Storage Company
TBD – Tick Bourne Diseases
USAID – United States Agency International Development
USD – United States Dollar

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GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Isifo senyawo kunye lomlomo – Foot and Mouth Disease

Lobola – Bridespay wealth
Sobhuku – kraal head
Ukubola konyawo - footrot

viii
ABSTRACT

The Matabeleland beef industry, including and especially its history, challenges and
developments over the post-independence years has been a topic of interest. It has become
characterized by many challenges that include recurrent diseases and pestilences, low
production and output due to poor agrarian land reforms and gross mismanagement. The
Matabeleland beef industry has been the subject of fascination amongst scholars post-
independence, and this research is a study into the history and challenges it faced during the
first thirty years post-independence. In the early years of independence, the Matabeleland
provinces were by far the biggest quality cattle breeding region in Zimbabwe and became
acclaimed and notable for its diversified and superior grades of beef compared to other
provinces. This decline in production is self-evident: cattle herd figures have been in rapid
decline in recent years, droughts have been rampant, disease outbreaks and economic
challenges have also led to very high input costs. Developments are also an omnipresent
feature in this illustrious and highly rated industry – the decline and revival of the Cold
Storage Company is an important piece of history. One major aspect to look at is the land
reform programs and their effects on this industry as well.

Key Terms:

Beef, Cattle, Challenges, Cold Storage Commission, Livestock, Matabeleland Beef Industry.

ix
1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

This investigation seeks to dwell on critically analysing the history and the challenges that
emerged from the Matabeleland beef industry during the period of 1980 to 2010. This
research will attend to the origins of the Matabeleland beef industry, especially how it was
crafted post-independence as well as the major institutions how it set itself up in response to
the war of independence and the damages it incurred. This probe aims to give an economic
and historical account of the advancement and spread of the Matabeleland beef industry. The
study also intends to exhibit the interlinked and complicated challenges that affect cattle
keepers at organizational level in Matabeleland while showing the developments that have
manifested in the relationship between commercial and communal cattle rearing. Also, this
study will reveal the political changes and its far reaching effects upon the nature and sources
of the labour force. Finally, the investigation will also aim to exploit the effects of the
adjustments in the world economy with regard to beef prices and valuations. The statement of
the problem is the conceptual framework of the research which will raise the major issues by
showing the major elements of the topic. Research objectives and questions have also been
added, and they will assist in showing what exactly the reason for undertaking the topic is
and especially the questions will point the researcher to the desired direction. The magnitude
of the research is a welcome addition as it minimises and saturates the study to a specific
geographical area and target population.

1.2 Historical background

The Matabeleland beef industry, including and especially its history and challenges that it has
faced over the post-independence years is a topic of interest, a gold mine of information
waiting to be tapped. The once flourishing industry finds itself struggling to keep up with a
number of changes and has become a shadow of its former self. It is now characterized by
many challenges that include recurrent diseases and pestilences, low production and output
due to poor agrarian land reforms and gross mismanagement; the case of the Cold Storage
Commission a case in point that supports the above notion.

1
It then becomes appropriate to begin the brief history of the Matabeleland beef industry from
the moment Zimbabwe attained independence from the former colonial power that was
Britain, in 1980. The Matabeleland beef industry started off with a number of problems that
presented great difficulties. Arguably one of the biggest and most painful stumbling blocks
was the destruction of infrastructure during the War of Liberation. To contextualize the
situation, war brought with it massive amounts of debris and some if not most of this came
from dip tanks, as well as materials used in making paddocks. Crucially, one needs to
understand the extent and seriousness of this destruction not just from a numerical
perspective but to see the impacts of the loss of such facilities. The loss of dip tanks for
instance, meant that cattle in Matabeleland became lambs to the slaughter that was diseases
and pestilences. The chief issues that were rampant as a result of loss of dip tanks mostly
include tick infections and tick borne disease. Ticks are responsible for the direct damage to
livestock hides through feeding habits and the damage is manifested in hides, udder, teats and
scrotums due to infestation.1 Moreover, ticks are responsible for the transmission of a large
variety of diseases that affect livestock. The major TBD include babesiosis and
anaplasmosis.2

The destruction of infrastructure such as dip tanks also presented a challenge as it meant that
the Matabeleland beef industry started on a not so clean slate. The rehabilitation of these
facilities has occurred at a snail’s pace and this has led to a sharp decline in the national herd
especially from Matabeleland. The Matabeleland area experiences rather modest and paltry
rainfall per annum and land less fertile often making it very impassable and unattainable for
farmers to produce plenty and enough yields from crops to sustain their needs. Part of this
can be accounted to the geographic conditions that have defined the Matabeleland provinces
as we have come to know it: FAO classifies the region under agro-ecological regions IV and
V whose terrain and climate is suitable for cattle breeding 3. The Matabeleland area as being
found in agro-ecological zone IV characterised by low and erratic rainfall (400-600
mm/annum) and mean annual temperature range of 20-30oC. The predominant trees in these
areas are Colophospermum mopane and Acacia species4. The dominant grasses are
Hyparrhenia and Aristida species5. During the colonial era large numbers of cattle ranches
were established and cattle ranching proved to be more successful than growing crops due to
the abovementioned reason.

2
In the early years of independence, the Matabeleland provinces were by far the biggest
quality cattle breeding region in Zimbabwe and became acclaimed and notable for its
diversified and superior grades of beef compared to other provinces6. This decline in
production is self-evident: cattle herd figures have been in rapid decline in recent years,
droughts have been rampant, disease outbreaks and gross mismanagement has also led to
very high input costs. Chinembiri notes that it is a combination of factors such as insufficient
feed in terms of quality and quantity, as well as the retrogressive land tenure system in
communal areas, credit facilities and poor livestock management7.

Developments are also an omnipresent feature in this illustrious and highly rated industry –
the decline of the Cold Storage Company is an important piece of history. The role played by
foreign aid should not be ignored as well. One has to look at the land reform programs and
their effects on the Matabeleland beef industry as well, and how legislature has altered this
industry, be it in a beneficiary manner or otherwise.

1.3 Statement of the problem

This study is an understanding of the history, challenges and developments that the
Matabeleland Beef industry has gone through from the period of 1980 to 2010 in order to
provide answers to the following research objectives and questions.

1.4 Aims

The major aim of this research is to provide a distinctive insight of the history, challenges and
developments of the Matabeleland beef industry, 1980 - 2010. It also serves to illustrate the
trials that the Matabeleland beef industry went through in the abovementioned years. The
research intends to bring out another view of history that had not been covered by scholars. It
aims to provide a comprehensive approach in addressing the extent in which how interlinked
the history, challenges and developments of the Matabeleland beef industry is.

1.5 Objectives

1. To give a clear background and insight on the roots and origins of the Matabeleland
beef industry.

3
 2. To adequately explain the effects of the challenges and the effectiveness of the
methods proposed to deal with these challenges as well as the subsequent
developments faced by the Matabeleland beef industry.
3. To assess the relationship between the history, the challenges and the developments of
the Matabeleland beef industry.
4. To explicitly illustrate how past and previous events have determined and shaped the
current state of the Matabeleland beef industry.

1.6 Research Questions

1. What were the major factors that influenced the structure and operational running of
the Matabeleland beef industry in 1980 and what are the differences to those of 2010?
2. What are the major stumbling blocks that the Matabeleland beef industry goes
through the post-independence era?
3. How have these stumbling blocks been dealt with and how effective have these
methods proven to be?
4. What have been the significant developments to occur within the Matabeleland beef
industry from the period 1980 to 2010?

1.7 Justification of the study

There is no question that farming is the most significant sector in Zimbabwe and other
Southern African countries as it is a source of livelihood for the majority of the population
especially those who reside in rural areas. Agriculture contributes to food security and
poverty reduction as well as employment creation. The commercial beef industry is very
crucial to the region of Matabeleland as it is the major agricultural activity which fits
perfectly to the climatic conditions there. The development of the cattle industry has
constituted a major source of food and foreign currency earnings as well as a pillar of
livelihood for many cattle breeders. In light of these key and important elements of the
industry, the study will show the various processes, methods and activities that go into the
commercial cattle production industry. The study also intends to educate the general public as
well as those players involved in the industry on the challenges that the industry faces from
the ground going up, as well as providing solutionist ideas in the process.

4
1.8 Delimitations of the study
Commercial cattle ranching is one of the oldest undertaken activities in Zimbabwe that is still
being practiced in many provinces in Zimbabwe. The researcher is going to concentrate only
on the Matabeleland area from the period of 1980 to 2010. This research will focus on the
history of this industry, as well as the various challenges that the industry has faced and
continues to face.

1.9 Anticipated limitations of the study

The researcher may experience limited time with the participants due to the distances to be
covered across various parts of Matabeleland. Areas to be covered include Ntabazinduna,
Bulawayo, Tsholotsho, Fort Rixon, Plumtree and Lupane. The researcher may encounter
difficulties in producing finished answers and conclusions since as commercial beef
production is still an on-going activity and new vital information may emerge post production
of this investigation. The researcher may also encounter limited access to scholarly data as
this is a topic with not a great deal of literature written about it. Hostility is another
anticipated obstacle, as some of the local community members under the area of study may
not fully participate or may resist in answering of questions due to a number of personal
reasons. The researcher’s focus period will be from 1980 to 2010.

1.10 Literature Review

In this chapter the researcher will lay out the themes of the study acknowledging works by
other researchers in relation with the research topic. In this same chapter the researcher will
select and identify an appropriate theory that will substantiate the study.
In Zimbabwe; including and especially in Matabeleland, the major beef breeds are the
indigenous Mashona, Nkone and Tuli while the imported Zebu types include Africander and
Brahman. Other notable breeds are the exotic types such as Red Dane, Hereford, Sussex,
South Devon and Simmental. The mainly indigenous cattle are adapted to the harsh
environmental conditions, but have been considered to be inferior to exotic breeds in terms of
carcass quality and yield. Important to note is the fact that there are two major cattle grazing
systems, which are namely controlled grazing in commercial and uncontrolled grazing
communal farming areas.

5
Commercial farms are privately owned, mainly aimed at profit and specific production goals,
in this case beef production. Livestock are kept in paddocks, grazing is controlled and
improved forage species are sometimes introduced. Rotational grazing is mostly practiced in
commercial farms. Herding of cattle is the most common method of cattle rearing in
Matabeleland. Cattle are herded during the day and penned at night. Seasonal deficiency in
feed quality and quantity particularly during the second half of the dry season is the major
constraint to communal livestock production. The principal causes of the feed challenges
stem from a combination of the factors such as poor quality of grazing due to poor soils and
low rainfall, recurrent droughts which affect veld forage temporal quantity, pressure on land
as farmers expand their crop fields and clear more land for human settlement. Poor
management of rangelands, inappropriate grazing management, rangeland fires also limit the
availability of fodder in the communal areas.

Organisational problems that plague the Matabeleland beef industry have also been touched
on in the past. Namely, these run from administrative in corporations such as the CSC right
down to the cattle herders themselves. As far as the CSC is concerned, Kwashirai highlights
the establishment of the CSC, from the days of its formation under the title Imperial Cold
Storage and Supply Company in Southern Rhodesia. Kwashirai in his thesis also introduces
us to the Rhodesian Export and Cold Storage Company (RECSCO), which he narrates its
establishment and subsequent decline from the popular and common dangers of
mismanagement and lack of proper planning from the top going down 8. Lack of controlled
breeding in communal areas has caused inbreeding, which result in poor growth rates in
cattle. There are no structured breeding systems and appropriate infrastructure such as
paddocks and, therefore, cows and bulls of unknown genetic merit and bloodlines run
together all year round.9 Animals move much further away from the homesteads during
exceptionally dry seasons depending on spatial distribution of forage patches and availability
of water. Masikati reported that cattle travel distances of 14km and 10km to water points in
Nkayi and Simbi respectively.10 The country’s meat processor the Cold Storage Company’s
head office is strategically situated in Bulawayo because the area is supposedly
predominantly so rich in high quality cattle production. It used to be the best in Africa during
the colonial times and was known for exporting premium beef products to Europe and was
the best in Africa and one of the best in the world. Today it is a victim of poor management
as it has been in rapid and terrible decline.

6
The major collapse of a Government institution like CSC closing its doors to Matabeleland
cattle beef production has had adverse effects to the Matabeleland beef industry as a whole. 11
It was once rated the best in Africa but failed to maintain its standards and operations, and
consequentially this meant that the Matabeleland beef industry would take a huge dent in its
stride, a dent that it has yet to fully recover from. The never ending issue of high prevalence
of disease and illnesses amongst cattle has been well articulated in the past. Matabeleland has
found itself dealing with pestilence for a very long time and it is the recurring nature of the
pestilences is a grave concern. The diseases occur regularly, almost every agricultural season
and the most common type of illness that descends upon cattle in Matabeleland is the Foot
and Mouth Disease (FMD). According to Scoones and Wolmer, the first recorded outbreak of
FMD in Zimbabwe, or in this context Southern Rhodesia; was in the southeast of the country
in the Matabeleland provinces in 1931. The two further reveal that between 1931 and 2002,
there were a further 85 outbreaks (averaging 1.2 per year), and although they do not reveal
any particular body count tally throughout these attacks, the consensus is that it is very high.12
Scoones and Wolmer also talk of logistical nightmares associated with this FMD outbreak,
mainly and especially highlighting the lack of foreign currency which would be fitting and is
generally accepted when buying vaccines and the huge cost of rebuilding fences and re-
imposing veterinary control regimes.

Scholars such as Masikati have also touched on the prevalence of disease and have instead
cast their net a bit wider by listing the most common diseases reported by farmers, namely
being foot and mouth disease, blackleg, heart-water, babesiosis, anthrax and anaplasmolisis.
These diseases occur very frequently and very severely, leaving destruction that takes years
to replace or get over. In the instance of blackleg disease; it has been termed as ‘unnecessary
evil’ by Masikati, who reveals the nature of the disease as one which is devastating in nature
to both beast and rancher. Biologically speaking, the name blackleg is derived from the
manifestation it incurs on the body – the infection is often in a leg muscle that turns dark in
colour upon contracting infection. The end product is usually death – and there is ‘life after
death’ as one may put it – the disease is highly infectious and it is extremely important that
cattle should not graze in affected areas where animals are known to have died from the
disease. Complications tend to arise quite often and frequently whenever there is a disease
outbreak. The reasons are plenty, but chiefly it is because of the unavailability and high cost
of drugs as well as inadequate veterinary officials. Mashoko et al conducted a survey that has

7
shown that most of the cattle farmers have poor access to veterinary extension services except
for contact with the dip attendants during dipping days.13
The Fast Track Land Resettlement Program (FTLRP) is another elephant in the room that
needs to be attended to when the conversation of the Matabeleland beef industry comes up.
This initiative was a program which was crafted to deal with the absence of social justice and
the problems of inefficiency and inequality that undercut the Zimbabwean agrarian set up and
consequentially gradualistic land reforms were initiated up to 1996. Sporadic “illegal” land
occupations and seizures were plenty and they sought to re-dress the land imbalances. In
1997, the Government of Zimbabwe initiated a process of radical land reform based upon
extensive compulsory land acquisition and redistribution, targeting 5 million hectares for
transfer national population of beef cattle decreased during FTLRP as a result of increased
beef cattle slaughtering and sales which reduced the LSCF herd size by about 65%. However,
since 1997, there has been an increase in the national herd size due to the increases in the
smallholder sector, although beef offtake and revenue in these areas is relatively lower than
in LSCF areas, due to various livestock management deficiencies. These changes affected
domestic and export beef supply scene, as 85% of the officially marketed beef and most of
the exports had been derived from the LSCF.

1.11 Methodology

The data acquired to execute this research was done mostly through interviews and oral
meetings that were carried out. The major reason interviews were used was to acquire first-
hand information direct from various people that are actively participating in the
Matabeleland beef industry. Another important reason was that the distortion of the
information is minimal since it is coming direct from the source. Journals, newspaper articles,
e-books and books were also used to make sure that scholarly written information was
acquired as there was an appreciation to get some vital key knowledge which would have
been missed by many through using only one avenue of data and information gathering.
Furthermore the methods used to impart and bring about the research are accurate and
reliable as they bring about the truth and bypass any margin of error and questionability that
may occur. Hence forth the use of interviews was of major help as it gave out first-hand
information of how the current state of affairs is with regards to the Matabeleland beef
industry.

8
DISSERTATION CHAPTER BREAKDOWN

Chapter 1: The History and Establishment of the Matabeleland Beef Industry

The chapter will focus on the very beginning of the Matabeleland beef sector, paying
particular attention to the key factors that lobbied for its establishment. The chapter will also
delve into the key figures that played very crucial roles in the infant stage of the industry. On
top of the already mentioned components, the chapter will take a good look at the creation of
the Cold Storage Commission, the parastatal that dealt with everything meat. The impact of
international sanctions on the Matabeleland beef industry during the days of the UDI will also
be assessed, as well as the cost of the War of Liberation will also be focused on at greater
depth.
Chapter 2: Evolution of the Matabeleland Beef Industry
This chapter will contain the metamorphosis of the Matabeleland beef industry, paying
attention mostly to the different breeds associated and affiliated with the Matabeleland beef
sector. The chapter will also touch on the roles and purposes that encompass cattle in
Matabeleland, be it commercial or communally. The influence of the remodelled CSC is also
put under the microscope, while also looking at the adaptability of the Matabeleland beef
industry while paying attention to the economic challenges.
Chapter 3: The Challenges faced by the Matabeleland Beef Industry
This chapter will be containing the introduction of the chapter, dealing with the handicaps,
pitfalls, obstacle and problems encountered by the Matabeleland beef sector during the
mentioned years. It will also involve the disease and pestilence problem, inequality on
multiple fronts, climate change and the unpredictability of weather, and the politics of land.
Chapter 4: Assessing the punch of policies meant to fix the problems
This chapter consists of an introduction, and the main body of which the researcher will
assess and make a verdict on whether or not the problems mentioned earlier were properly
and effectively dealt with. Major pillars of the chapter will look at the role and power of
foreign aid and the strength and effectiveness of government policies and legislature in
dealing with recurring and new problems.

9
ENDNOTES

1. D. N. Ndhlovu, P. V. Makaya and B. I. Penzhorn, “Tick infestation, and udder and

teat damage in selected cattle herds of Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe”,
Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, Vol. 76 (1) (2009), 235–237.
2. Ibid.
3. Food and Agricultural Organisation. Sub-regional report on animal genetic
resources: Southern Africa. Annex to the State of the World’s Animal Genetic
Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome, FAO, 2007, 1-37.
4. R. Mugandani, M. Wuta, A. Makarau, B. Chipundu, ‘Re-Classification of Agro-
Ecological Regions in Zimbabwe In Conformity With Climate Variability and
Change’, African Crop Science Journal, Vol. 20 (2) (2012), 367.
5. Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, “EMA Launches Veld Fire Campaign”,
Accessed 21/08/2019, https://zbc.co.zw/newscategories/environment-a-
tourism/29167-ema-launches-veld-fire-campaigns.html
6. B.Z. Mavedzenge, J. Mahenehene, F. Murimbarimba, I. Scoones, W. Wolmer,
Changes In The Livestock Sector in Zimbabwe Following Land Reform: The Case Of
Masvingo Province, 2006. Accessed 25/08/2019, www.lair.org.za
7. F. M. Chinembiri, ‘Livestock Extension Programmes and Packages in the Communal
Areas of Zimbabwe’, in (ed). B. Cousins, People, Land and Livestock: Proceedings
of a Workshop on the Socio-Economic Dimensions of Livestock Production in the
Communal Lands of Zimbabwe, (Harare, Centre for Applied Social Sciences), 1988,
143-147.
8. C. V. Kwashirai, The Operations of the Imperial Cold Storage and Supply Company
in Southern Rhodesia, 1924-1938, (unpub. BA Hon. thesis, University of Zimbabwe),
1990, 61-62.
9. J.J. Ndebele, V. Muchenje, C. Mapiye, M. Chimonyo, L. Musemwa, T Ndlovu ,
Cattle breeding management practices in the Gwayi smallholder farming area of
South-western Zimbabwe, Livestock Research For Rural Development, 2008,
Accessed 25/08/2019, http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd19/12/ndeb19183.html
10. P. Masikati, Improving the water productivity of integrated crop-livestock systems in
the semi-arid tropics of Zimbabwe: An Ex-ante Analysis Using Simulation Modelling,
2012, Accessed 26/08/2019

10
 http://www.zef.de/fileadmin/webfiles/downloads/zefc_ecology_development/eds_78_
masikati_text.pdf.13
11. E. Mashoko, V. Muchenje, T. Ndlovu, C. Mapiye, M. Chimonyo, L. Musemwa, ‘Beef
cattle production in a peri-urban area of Zimbabwe’ Journal of Sustainable
Development in Africa Vol. 9 (1) (2007), 126.
12. I. Scoones, W. Wolmer, ‘Land, Landscapes and Disease: The Case of Foot and Mouth
in Southern Zimbabwe’, South African Historical Journal Vol. 58 (2) (2007), 43-44.
13. E. Mashoko et. al, “Beef cattle production’, 130.

11
CHAPTER 1

THE HISTORY AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MATABELELAND BEEF

INDUSTRY - 1893.

1.1 Introduction

The Matabeleland beef industry is not a system that was established recently. It was formed
as far back as the days of the settler whites in Zimbabwe, and thus the time of its
establishment becomes a key feature worthy of mention if one is to truly point to where the
industry came from. Interestingly, those that possess the eagle eye may find that the problems
and mishaps that the Matabeleland agro pastoral industry goes through can be pinpointed to
as far back as the days of its actual formation.

1.2 The Beginning of the Matabeleland Beef Industry

The advent and subsequent development of the Matabeleland beef industry is an issue of
interest as it is one that can be traced as far back as the days of the settler government of
Cecil John Rhodes. Soon after the successful triumph of the Anglo-Ndebele War of 1893-94,
the prospect and call of cattle ranching became too much to ignore for those who were
victorious in this battle – the focus swung from Rhodes' promises of generous gold claims
and abruptly developed into land and cattle theft, making the Ndebele natives lambs to the
slaughter. One has to also look at how the possibility of stock raising in Matabeleland
presented itself and the role it played in being a major pull factor to a lot of prospective
settlers in making them volunteers their participation in the 1893-94 campaign.1

Effectively, the commercial beef industry in Matabeleland came to be due to a number of

factors, chief of them the collapse of the “Second Rand” myth regarding the territory's gold
mining prospects. There was firm belief and perhaps, misguided hope that the Matabeleland
area was as laden with gold as the Rand was. 2 This became a propaganda that did not last
long and was thrown out of the window as after numerous attempts and insurmountable costs,
it became clear that as far as gold mining was concerned, Matabeleland was not the goose
that laid the golden egg. Driven by these events, white settler commercial ranching started as
part of the colonial administration's contingency plan of alleviating food shortages in the

12
colony that came as a consequence of the war, as well as epidemic illnesses that decimated
cattle between the late 1890s and early 1900s. 3 As the territory was being established;
through conquest and expropriation; circumstances swung firmly into the favour of the white
settlers – on top of the psychological advantage they possessed of having defeated the
Ndebele natives in the 1893-1894 War, material resources hardly became a problem for them.
Land was as good as free due to it becoming a winner’s incentive of some sort and it was also
more plenty, grazing could be done abundantly and with minimum logistical hiccups, and
labour was extremely cheap because native Ndebele individuals, especially able bodied men
were forcefully recruited to work in the farms of the white settlers. 4 Individual settlers and a
few large land-owning private companies stocked their ranches with indigenous cattle, seized
and/or stolen or bought at 'knock-down' prices from Africans.

The numerical side of the cattle and land theft is one that cannot and should not be left out if
one is to do a thorough breakdown of the consequences of its being. Documented estimates
speak volumes of between 100 000 and 200 000 cattle being seized from the Ndebele by
Cecil John Rhodes’s BSAC during the period of October 1893 and March 1896. This
expropriation of cattle affected the national herd terribly as it meant that the native Ndebele
was robbed without compensation. As far as the land expropriation was concerned, the
embezzlement and extortion of African-owned land that came as a result of colonialism
allowed even more results that would favour the settler ranchers-in waiting and settler
capitalist farmers in general. It is important to note that not only was it gross but a bit
haphazard and ineffectively planned as well. This is a theory very well backed up by
Phimister, who concludes that in the first twenty years of Southern Rhodesia's existence as a
colony, there were very few European food producers: the land which was sold or given away
in such vast quantities by the BSAC was held as an unsubstantiated suggestion and instead of
being used for agriculture and farming, became used for mining.

Phimister further explains that in the first decade of colonial rule, vast portions of alienated
land were generously sold by the administration of the BSAC to what was termed as
'development consortiums’, but without effective occupation clauses such that in 1899, there
were fewer than 250 white 'farmers' actually [residing] on the land, most of whom devoted
their energies to trading and transport riding.5 Therefore to conclude that the fundamental pre

13
requisite of land was badly used at first is not entirely incorrect. From around the early 20th
century onwards, the successful expansion of capitalist beef production in the country was
largely bankrolled by the Chartered Company administrations, who were firm believers and
executors of their own policy of "white agriculture." Through this policy, the Company
administration offered generous incentives which managed to attract a number of big
ranching companies and cattle experts from as far afield as Texas into the country. 6 Among
the several big land companies that descended and set up their ranching properties were
corporations such as Willoughby's Consolidated, Amalgamated Properties of Rhodesia Ltd,
London and Rhodesia Mining and Land Company or (LONRHO) and the BSAC itself. 7 The
stock on this ranch was made up of indigenous cattle bought from Africans residing in the
vicinity of the ranch, at very low and shady prices.

By 1908, the predominant Afrikander and Mashona cattle herd, which was crossed with
imported Hereford and Lincoln breeds, had expanded to 3 200 herds. 8 The London and
Rhodesia Mining and Land Company, which was originally founded as a purely mining
concern, also joined other struggling mining companies in developing its land assets by
consolidating its ranching business in the years between 1910 and 1914. A combination of
factors, namely the expanded admission of cattle after 1908 and the country's victory in
eliminating the mortality rate of cattle from disease done via the dipping method, led to a
speedy and notable increase in the national herd. Between 1909 and 1913, about 33 000
cattle, which included pedigree bulls, were imported from Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland and
South Africa for purposes of re-stocking or replacing herds that had perished during the
epidemics of the late 1890s and early 1900s.9

For example, out of a total of 147 outbreaks of cattle diseases between 1906 and 1919, only 7
000 deaths were recorded countrywide. Thus, as the country's infant beef industry became
increasingly less prone to cattle epidemics, which had previously checked its expansion
before 1908, the national herd also began to thrive better and expand faster. In spite of these
factors; the beef industry in Matabeleland suffered and deteriorated from a number of
stumbling blocks during its developmental stage such as serious lack of start-up funding, lack
of facilities and terrible ranching mismanagement as well as recurrent and vicious diseases.
However, the silver lining in the dark cloud came through in the form of attempts to establish

14
foreign markets in competition with other producers was generally a failure, but a series of
export agreements with South Africa and Britain did exist to encourage the policy of
promoting the beef industry.

1.3 Personalities and Groups Key to the Establishment of the Industry

The Matabeleland beef industry owes its existence to the expressions of interests and efforts
of a few individuals and institutions, albeit most if not all are white settler farmers or at least
institutions affiliated to white settler farmers. Hence, between October 1893 and March 1896,
anything between 100 000 and 200 000 cattle were seized from the Ndebele by Cecil John
Rhodes's British South Africa Company and individual settlers. While most of these cattle
were promptly sold on the Kimberley and Johannesburg mine markets, and many of the cattle
remaining in the country were decimated by cattle epidemics of the late 1890s and early
1900s, there is no doubt as to the role of both land and cattle theft in the early development of
settler commercial ranching in Southern Rhodesia. Cecil John Rhodes therefore becomes a
very key and central figure in the discussion of the Matabeleland Beef Industry.

Rhodes himself is a man that needs no introduction: a certified master tactician and a
businessman par excellence; though a very crucial fait accompli that needs to be pointed out
that the establishment of the Matabeleland beef industry was a makeshift project, after the
harsh realization that gold was not as plenty as he had previously thought. It was his company
that conducted expeditions to present day Matabeleland; it was his company that appealed to
British to join his cavalry of huntsmen in search of whatever goodness lies on the other side.
He was and will always be the face of the conquest of Matabeleland and subsequent
development of the agro pastoral industry. Also, with the power vested in him by the Royal
Charter, the BSAC gained autonomy and became the largest land-holding company in the
country. From the turn of the 20th century moving forward, the Chartered Company set up its
own ranching empire by investing heavily and thoroughly in cattle ranching with a view and
an intention to fully stock its huge flagship Rhodesdale ranch, along with four other ranches
by 1920. In 1912, its Rhodesdale ranch alone covered just above a million acres and by 1914,
this ranch carried over 19 000 head of cattle. These analytics are a close observation brought
forward by Machingaidze.10

15
John Willoughby was another prominent and influential figure in the toddler stages of the
Matabeleland beef industry. Willoughby was a key member of the BSAC and was joint in
command of the unit that was sent to finalise the destruction of Bulawayo. Not much is really
said or well documented about Willoughby, except for the fact that he used his position of
influence very well in acquiring land and livestock; including and especially cattle and
therefore the use of such to establish his very robust and heavily competitive cattle estates.
Furthermore, his influence in the developmental stage of the Matabeleland is seen as the
original plan of the BSAC was to turn his consortium; Willoughby's Consolidated Company
into a pioneer in the colony's infant beef industry. As his institution was financially backed
by the BSAC, expansion was effortless such that from the late 19th century going forward,
the company was very swift in establishing a 350 000 acre ranch at Umvuma later known as
the Central Estates.11 It is such moves he made that gave him such power and influence in the
Matabeleland agro pastoral industry.

1.4 The Creation of the RESCO

The establishment of the Rhodesian Export and Cold Storage Company is a very critical
element and development in the story of the Matabeleland agro pastoral industry and its
existence. This parastatal came to be as a result of the Rhodesian government’s intervention
to what was an ailing period for the industry. By the mid-1920s, the poor and improperly
planned advent of the Matabeleland beef industry caught up with it, and the once promising
industry found itself on its knees.12 The first known Cold Storage Company was formed after
government intervened to prevent was seemed like imminent if not inevitable collapse of the
Matabeleland beef industry.

A subsidiary company was set up, the Rhodesian Export and Cold Storage Company, with a
set target to establish a factory capable of processing a minimum of 20 000 head of cattle per
annum. It was conceded that if RECSCO's profits exceeded ten per cent of the original
investment, the surplus dividends would be split between RECSCO and the government. The
two parties also concurred to the clause that RECSCO's monopoly would last for ten years
and after seven years the government could give six month notice of its intention to
expropriate the works at a mutually agreed price, failing which, the price would be fixed by
arbitration.13 Although things went very well, they went too well and a combination of factors

16
soon combined to restrain the efforts of RECSCO to mitigate the industry of surpluses
throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Among these was the poor quality of locally produced meat.
The major complication that arose was that as cattle were exported live from the country,
after a long and gruelling land and sea journey, the cattle reached Smithfield market in
London in an unpleasant and unattractive state that made it a fairly repugnant investment.

Although between 1925 and 1926, RECSCO bought 37 700 and 49 600 head of cattle
respectively, in 1927, the Company's purchases hardly exceeded 16 000 head. This gross
imbalance made it very difficult and very unsustainable to keep operations going. Even with
the help of an annual government subsidy of 25 000 pounds sterling, the RECSCO still lost
money heavily in 1928 and 1929. Consequentially, the industry's exports fell from over 73
000 head in 1929, to about 61 000 head in 1930. At the same time, RECSCO's purchases for
overseas contracts dropped from over 33 000 head in 1929, to 22 000 in 1930.14

By January 1931, the government's patience with RECSCO was almost exhausted, and the
Company was informed that if frozen meat was not exported overseas, the original agreement
would be broken and any subsidies from government scrapped. However, Government was
stopped in its tracks as the country's major ranching districts of Nuanetsi, Gwanda,
Bulawayo, Victoria, Ndanga, Chilimanzi, Belingwe, Salisbury, Lomagundi, Mazoe, Mrewa,
Umtali and Melsetter were hit by Foot and Mouth disease between 1931 and 1935, thereby
making the survival of RECSCO's freezing plant extremely imperative. To make matters
worse, in spite of the fact that the government continued to dole out financial assistance to
RECSCO, the company still failed to make a dent on the international meat market and thus,
continued to suffer mounting losses.

RECSCO's relationship with the government seems to have taken a severe knock from the
fact that by the late 1930s, its operations had become a source of tension with both the
government and its vital political constituency of small white ranchers. While on the one
hand, ranchers alleged that the company was underpaying them for their produce. Apart from
the alleged dishonest practices of the company's management hinted at in the above
statement, the government was not impressed by the RECSCO's dismal export performance.
According to Phimister, however, the divorce between RECSCO and the government was
unavoidable because the marriage between private enterprise and the settler government was
based on potentially conflicting interests which could not be reconciled.

17
In the end, the government had its way and on the 15th October 1937, the Cabinet resolved
that a bill should be drafted for the establishment of a body on the lines of the Electricity
Supply Commission to take over the marketing of beef in the country. The bill, which sailed
through parliament, became known as the Cold Storage Commission Act No. 37 of 1937, and
provided for the establishment of a Commission whose purpose was the acquisition,
establishment and operation of abattoirs and refrigeration works for the purpose of chilling,
freezing and storing beef, mutton, pork and other meat foods for export, or for consumption
within the country. Unlike a private company which operated strictly for profit, the Cold
Storage Commission would provide a public service by operating on-a-no-profit-no-loss
basis.

In spite of the fact that throughout the 1920s, the government pumped huge subsidies into
ICS's Rhodesian subsidiary, RECSCO's export effort, the company failed dismally to
penetrate the dull international market. However, just when the government was
contemplating expropriating RECSCO, the beef industry's fortunes hit their lowest ebb
during the Foot-and-mouth epidemic of 1931-1935.

1.5 The Effects of International Sanctions on the Matabeleland Beef Industry

The years between 1960 up to 1979, in which the international sanctions were introduced as
well as when the Rhodesian Bush War took place were very turbulent and unstable for the
nation as a whole, and the Matabeleland Beef Industry was not spared from the obligatory
destruction that came with the war. As such, there are many consequences that hit the
industry.

The Unilateral Declaration of Independence was as a political time bomb which threatened to
explode on the faces of the entire nation. The imposition of sanctions by the international
community to Ian Smith’s UDI had an effect to the Matabeleland Beef Industry. The biggest
aspect to note is that right from the onset, Rhodesia and in this case the Matabeleland Beef
Industry was very dependent on Britain for support, be it through finance or allegiance. This
meant that Britain played the front role in the imposition of these sanctions with the intention
of ' returning Ian Smith to legality’.15 The way in which events played out put the
Matabeleland Beef Industry between a rock and a hard place. This embargo therefore quickly
became a sink or swim situation for the Matabeleland, and fortunately the industry exercised

18
its survival mode by developing new methods to ensure that business resumed as usual. This
was in the form of new alternative and auxiliary markets, as the amputation of the British
supply chain meant that Rhodesia had to develop itself on its own. To understand the
seriousness of this cut off, one has to look at the case in point of the Smithfield market. The
Smithfield Market was a United Kingdom based market which from the late 1950s onwards
had become South Rhodesia's largest export market and had become their first preferential
partner such that by the latter years of the decade accounted for about half of the country's
meat exports, and by the early 1960s, the Smithfield market had accounted for approximately
83 per cent of the country's total beef exports, according to Samasuwo. 16 To have the
umbilical cord which was Smithfield to be cut off so abruptly just to boil the bottoms of the
Smith administration forced the aforementioned government to think on their feet. Samusowo
also goes on to reveal the crux of the matter, which lay in the fact that the quality of grade
produced meant that the local market could not absorb it because of its premium class. 17
Therefore, to fix the issue one of the avenues to get there was to restructure the grading
system. The importance of this was understated by the Secretary of Agriculture who noted
that:

The type of beef required by Smithfield was obtained largely from the
animals graded as 'Rhodesia's Best and 'Imperial'. These grades required
a type of finish demanded only on Smithfield and not elsewhere. It was
essential therefore, that the emphasis should be switched to the
production of leaner beef of the quality and finish demanded by other
markets.18

This sudden but abrupt change was necessary if the industry was to survive and keep running.
Of course, the deep intricate mechanisms of markets are almost certain to react to such
changes, and in this case the market reacted in a manner that benefitted the Matabeleland
Beef Industry. The Smith administration continued to do business in spite of the sanctions
imposed, and in fact, there is abundant evidence pointing in the direction that many of the
countries which traditionally had been Rhodesia's major trading partners prior to sanctions
continued to do business with it in direct violation of international sanctions. Among the
chief violators of the sanctions was its neighbours South Africa and Portuguese-controlled
Mozambique. Through these countries the Rhodesian government was able to conduct an
elaborate secret beef trade right under the noses of international sanctions monitors.

19
A case in point is in March 1965, where the Rhodesian government signed a bilateral trade
agreement with Portugal and its colonies. According to Strack, the agreement had a clause
that allowed the transportation of live animals and “products of the soil" originating in and
passing between Mozambique and Rhodesia and also for duty free entry of a small number of
items from Rhodesia into Angola and vice-versa.19 The irony of this situation was that British
beef consumers, whose country had spearheaded the implementation of sanctions against
Rhodesia, may actually have continued to consume Rhodesian beef unknowingly. In March
1968, the Rand Daily Mail made a startling disclosure when it reported that Britain was still
importing large quantities of Rhodesian beef "under false South African papers”. 20All things
considered, sanctions did not affect the Matabeleland beef industry as there was active
transportation of beef from the area, by whatever avenues possible; in an act probably led by
the intuition that ‘the ends justify the means’.

1.6 The Effects of the War of Liberation on the Matabeleland Beef Industry.

The next major problem for the Matabeleland Beef Industry that it had to endure was the War
of Liberation of 1964. This was a different animal altogether from the ideological game of
chess that the Matabeleland beef industry came from which was the sanctions game. The War
of Liberation was a 15 year old path of destruction that yielded few dividends for all
involved, including and especially those in the Matabeleland Beef Industry. Beef production
soon came to be an unprofitable business as there was a bundle of factors that conspired
against the industry; ranging from a number of facilities being destroyed to the looting and
unethical slaughtering of beasts by both parties involved right up to the unstable nature of
war itself.

The elephant in the room that needs to be identified is the fact that the War of Liberation was
driven out of the will to take back land that was forcefully snatched off the hands of the
Africans by the evil racist minority government. In this regard, one has to note the cattle
factor and how it became a bone of contention as white farmers were often attacked by, in the
context of Matabeleland; ZIPRA forces who were the military wing of ZAPU as Brickhill
identifies its military strategy and reveals that it was most strongest in Matabeleland where
they descended upon areas such as Lupane, Nkayi and Tsholotsho.21

20
Most importantly, there is an interesting modus operandi that was applied by the guerrillas:
the use of cattle rustling by guerrillas and peasants as a tool of economic subversion against
white dominated economy. Inasmuch the war was about land from the onset, cattle became
used as pawns in this diplomatic and military game of chess. These sentiments are shared by
Samusuwo, who explains that the war went beyond the land issue. He alludes:

While the issue of land was the chief most important driving force behind
the war, cattle became the pawns in the vicious demise of colonialism
much in the same way as white cattle looting had accompanied the
successful establishment of white capitalist ranching and colonialism in
the 1890s and early 1900s.22

In this light, it becomes important to note that cattle played a very important role throughout
the War of Liberation. Factor in the scenario whereby dip tanks were destroyed during the
war made the industry compromised as it meant that disease spread in a very rampant manner
with minimum or little immunization or quarantine. Moreover, in some instances there are
cases whereby peasants and guerrillas, in a fit of rage and allegiance to the revolutionary
cause, struck very devastating shots at the ranching economy around them by rustling and
sometimes killing white owned cattle. Such deeds resulted in a dwindling of confidence on
both investors and those at the ground as this meant that the practice found itself under
serious threat from a force bigger than it could ever be. To mitigate this conundrum, the
Rhodesian government came up with the idea of imposing serious punishment on whole
villages suspected of being complicit in cattle rustling in 1973, with the initiation of the
Emergency Powers (Collective Fines) Regulations.23 Long story short, the Regulations gave
Rhodesian security forces and the Ministry of Internal Affairs officials teeth in its fight to
weed out those suspected of any involvement in acts of sabotage or aiding guerrillas in these
acts.

To render their actions as disciplinary would be politically incorrect; it was closer to torture,
abuse and victimization of the so-called perpetrators came in various policies which ranged
from severe torture and beatings to destruction of immovable property and confiscation of all
cattle, even to those who had nothing to do with the alleged crimes. This law however proved
to be disappointingly ineffective to the policymakers. Two primary reasons which explain the
government's failure to deal effectively with the wave of cattle rustling and cattle theft were

21
the severe shortage of manpower, notably at a time where the war was at its pinnacle and all
the able bodied men had been deployed to attend to the; arguably; more pressing matter of the
War of Liberation. The second reason that can be attributed to the failure of the Regulations
is the disintegration of law and order, which was a direct consequence of the war and all its
politics. This disorganization of law was most present particularly in the communal areas
where guerrillas had established full control of day to day operations there, including and
especially on ZAPU territory in Matabeleland.

Since the law had failed them, white farmers decided to gird their loins themselves by
forming protection groups, something similar to neighbourhood watches. The bulk of the
members of these defence groups comprised of white farmers themselves as well as family
members and other interested white parties. Grundy and Miller quote the Chief Veterinary
Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Bill Boyt who was one key member that participated
in these groups, and he outlined how his group defended themselves against vigilantes:

we countered this [cattle theft] by setting up anti-stock-theft units to

guard the cattle and retaliate when they were stolen, frequently chasing
the terrorist gang into the Tribal Trust Lands to recover the animals.
Other measures included the use of cowbells, stripes on the backs of
animals so that they were easily recognisable from the air or some
vantage point on the ground and fitting tiny electric gadgets which gave
out a radio signal indicating their whereabouts.24

Ironically and on a rather bittersweet note for the white farmers, despite all their efforts they
were unable to impede the upsurge of attacks on their cattle. It is however very important to
emphasise and hammer home the point that not all cattle theft that occurred in the white
owned farms in Matabeleland was a result or a responsibility of the guerrillas or the peasants.
Outbreak of diseases and pestilences is another facet of the war that had dire consequences on
the Matabeleland beef industry. By far, the worst victim of this dilemma was the cattle sector
which endured direct physical damage from the war itself. Due to the fact that most of the
combat between African guerrillas and Rhodesian security forces took place in the rustic
rural areas of Matabeleland, almost all the available veterinary infrastructure was destroyed.
Ridiculously, it was the Rhodesian security forces themselves that forwarded the spread of
illnesses, especially Anthrax. The Rhodesian security forces used biological warfare through

22
poisons and chemicals as part of their attacking strategy in response to the attacks by the
African forces. For instance as Ellert postulated, with the intent that starved guerrillas to fall
for the trap, Rhodesian security forces especially the notorious Selous Scouts, distributed
Leox brand tinned beef spiked with Thallium poison in areas thoroughly infiltrated by
guerrillas.25

This deliberate biological warfare had disastrous results for, especially the African cattle
keepers, as cattle fell gravely ill without any medication or antidotes on standby.
Consequentially if not naturally, people fell ill from eating contaminated meat and death
became a matter of when rather than if. The death of thousands of African owned cattle
during the war however, cannot entirely be explained by Anthrax epidemic alone. The
outbreak of tick-borne diseases was a direct by product of guerrilla tactics, especially if one
considers the fact that guerrillas targeted the colonial dipping system itself. Due to the
already existing historical resentment and tension towards the mandatory dipping and dipping
fees amongst the peasantry, it was easy for guerrillas to convince and mobilise people to
destroy dip tanks. After all, by taking a hand.in their destruction, the rural people who lived
under harsh poverty anyway, were able to save themselves significant amounts of money
since dipping fees were very expensive. On the whole therefore, the viral challenge caused by
the war spelt catastrophic results for all major players in the beef industry.

1.7 Conclusion

In order to fully understand the strength and where the Matabeleland beef industry is headed,
one has to acknowledge its history, which is laden with events such as the Rhodesian Bush
War, the placement of sanctions whose razor sharp teeth were successfully dodged. However,
the most historical part about the history of the Matabeleland beef industry is its history, and
it would be incomplete without looking at the personalities and institutions that gave meaning
to its existence.

23
ENDNOTES

1. I.R. Phimister, "Meat and Monopolies: Beef Cattle in Southern Rhodesia, 1890-38,"
Journal of African History, Vol. 19 (3), 1978, 391-95.
2. T. O. Ranger, "Tales of the 'Wild West': Gold-Diggers and Rustlers in south-west
Zimbabwe, 1898-1940, An Essay in the Use of Criminal Court Records for Social
History," South African Historical Journal, Vol. 28 (3) , 1993, 40-42.
3. P. Stigger, "Volunteers and the Profit Motive in the Anglo-Ndebele War, 1893",
Rhodesian History, Vol. 11 (2), 1971, 16-18.
4. D. G Clarke, The Political Economy of Discrimination and Underdevelopment in
Rhodesia with special reference to African Workers 1940-1973, (unpub. PhD thesis,
University of St. Andrews), 1975, 304.
5. I.R Phimister, “Meat and Monopolies”, 396.
6. Southern Rhodesia, Handbook for the Use of Prospective Settlers on the Land,
London, 1924, 14.
7. A. E. Hardley, Willoughby's Consolidated Company, Ltd, 1894 -1944: Review, 1944,
23-24.
8. N. Samasuwo, There Is Something About Cattle: Towards an Economic History of the
Beef Industry in Colonial Zimbabwe with Special Reference to the Role of the State,
(PhD thesis, University of Cape Town), 2003, 19.
9. Ibid, 35.
10. V.E.M Machingaidze, The Development of Settler Capitalist Agriculture in Southern
Rhodesia with particular reference to the Role of the State, 1908-1939, (unpub. PhD
thesis, University of London), 1980, 285-288.
11. A. E. Hartley, Willoughby’s Consolidated Company, 19.
12. I.R Phimister, “Meat and Monopolies”, 408.
13. Southern Rhodesian Government “Agreement with Imperial Cold Storage", Rhodesia
Agricultural Journal Vol. 21, 1924, 633-636.
14. Director of Agriculture, Annual Report, 1927, 3-4.
15. A. Astrow, Zimbabwe: A Revolution That Lost Its Way?, (London, Zed Press), 1983,
14.
16. N. Samasuwo, There’s Something About Cattle, 138.

24
17. Ibid, 171.
18. Secretary of Lands and Agriculture, Annual Report, 1966, 2.
19. H. R. Strack, The International Relations of Rhodesia under Sanctions, (unpub. PhD
thesis, University of Iowa), 1974, 213.
20. The Rand Daily Mail, 18 March 1968.
21. J. Brickhill, "Daring to Storm the Heavens: The Military Strategy of ZAPU, 1976-
79," in N. Bhebhe and T.O. Ranger, Soldiers in Zimbabwe's Liberation War, (Oxford,
Oxford University Press), 1996, 52.
22. N. Samasuwo, There’s Something About Cattle, p203.
23. Rhodesian Government Notice. No. 101 of 1973.
24. T. Grundy, B. Miller, The Farmer at War, (Salisbury, Modern Farming Publications)
1979, 125.
25. H. Ellert, The Rhodesian Front War: Counter-Insurgency and Guerrilla Warfare,
1962-1980, (Gweru, Mambo Press), 1989, 146.

25
CHAPTER 2:

THE EVOLUTION OF THE MATABELELAND BEEF INDUSTRY

2.1: Introduction

The Matabeleland Beef Industry has endured a lot for it to survive, thus this evolution is a
key element because it gives one insight as to the path taken by the industry in dodging and
dealing with whatever has been thrown towards its path. Part of the evolution involves the
role of cattle that has changed over time, as well as the different breeds of cattle that have
also been altered and tampered with time. One needs to also look at the role of the CSC, the
government parastatal that was created specifically for beef production. Lastly, as part of the
evolution one has to look at how the Matabeleland beef industry has fared in the face of a
very testing and difficult economic climate that threatened to cut short its existence.

2.2: The Different Breeds Associated with the Matabeleland Beef Industry

The Matabeleland Beef Industry has had to accommodate a number of cattle breeds as it
seeks to maintain competition and relevance in such a difficult and constantly changing
industry. In the 1940s and 1950s, the colonial administrators introduced exotic bulls in
indigenous herds under the belief that this would result a larger framed beef animal. This
policy not only threatened the continued existence of indigenous breeds - which are well
adapted to their environment - it resulted in an animal which was more susceptible to local
diseases.

The Afrikander cattle breed is a notable and popular breed associated with the Matabeleland
beef industry, and continues to divide opinion on whether it is a naturally Zimbabwean or a
South African breed, though it is assumed to be a descendant of the indigenous cattle kept by
the Hottentot/Khoisan and likely has some of its lineage from the Zimbabwean bovine. The
large-framed, highly prized Afrikander breed was only developed into a registered
commercial breed over the past 90 years and is now widely distributed within southern
Africa. They were the predominant breed of the commercial beef herd in the Matabeleland

26
beef industry in the first half of the 20th Century. Mrs G. Dube of Ntoli village in Tsholotsho
began specialized Afrikander cattle breeding in 1990, and concluded that it is the hardy
elements of it that makes it a winner. She purported that the breed is very adaptable to the
popular dry barren spells that tend to hit her area of operation. For the prices it tends to fetch
by auctions, in her humble opinion she considers it a very profitable breed, low to medium
input with insane returns.1 The Tuli breed is well suited to the warmer, low-lying areas of
Zimbabwe where it occurs mainly around the Tuli and Plumtree areas in the south-western
parts of the country, spilling over into Botswana where they are known as ‘AmaTuli’. This
makes it a very popular and well tested choice for cattle breeders that have been actively
participating in the Matabeleland beef industry.2

Most Tuli animals are polled, with distinctly red coats; but overtime herds of golden-brown
animals have been obtained through a process of breed selection which began prior to
colonisation that was observed and followed by colonial veterinarians, who subsequently
crossed this breed with other indigenous breeds. The meat is highly regarded for its rich taste
and ease of preservation. Another common breed that is affiliated with the Matabeleland beef
industry is the Nguni cattle, which is easily identifiable with their distinctive lyre-shaped
horns pointing upwards and curved slightly forwards, a small to medium size indigenous
Zimbabwean breed suited to the warmer low-lying areas of the country, hence the breed is
more prevalent in the south-western parts of the country, north of the Limpopo and along the
boundary with Mozambique. The Nguni cattle originated in Swaziland and Zululand and
were brought up to Zimbabwe by King Mzilikazi and his warriors during their northward
migrations and notorious cattle purges and raids that they conducted regularly during the first
half of the 19th Century.3 The short, fine, glossy coat of the Nguni breed is usually dark in
colour and comes in a wide variety of dappled colours. The bulls have large humps, the horns
are shorter, stouter and crescent-shaped; they are commonly polled, with the poll being clean
and pointed.4

The breed commonly referred to as the (ma)Shona cattle breed was originally developed from
the humped Songa breed that originated in north-east Africa. The breed followed the human
migration pattern southwards, together with the indigenous Africanus dog to help them herd
their cattle. This small hardy breed of cattle has been kept for generations by the local Shona
people living on the high central plateau — their terrigenous habitat. The indigenous
(ma)Shona/Shona cattle breed has a comparatively small, compact body with fine, strong

27
bones. With their short, glossy coat and a distinctly long tail (reaching almost to the ground),
it is suited to the cooler high central plateau areas, is widely distributed throughout
Mashonaland and also occurs in parts of northern and eastern Matabeleland. Most
(ma)Shona/Shona are black in colour, which are preferred for their spiritual significance in
traditional Shona ritual life. Culturally, the tail of a black bull, is often given to a chief who
uses it as a heraldic symbol of his status, a fly whisk, a ceremonial socio-religious object and
an ancestral heirloom, which in Zimbabwean lore is also a symbol of authority and fertility.
The (ma)Shona/Shona breed, was allegedly ‘saved from extinction’ by two settler-farmers,
namely F.B. Willoughby and E.A.B. McCloud, who established breeding herds during the
1940s up to 1951; disregarding that it was a time when the wholesale confiscation of Shona
cattle began. The two men initiated a breed society, specifically for the (ma)Shona/Shona
cattle – the original indigenous Songa breed.5

The Nguni is another breed worthy of mentioning when one brings up the topic of cattle
breeds that are synonymous with the Matabeleland area, a major indigenous cattle breed in
Southern Africa. It is a small to medium sized breed and has the brilliant ability of adapting
well to the harsh environments of the Matabeleland area where droughts are notoriously
periodic and greener pastures are very few and far between. To manage and combat drought
and forage seasonality, Nguni cattle are biologically built in such a way that they have low
nutrient requirements for maintenance, as well as very high endurance, giving them the
ability to walk long distances in search of grazing and water. Nguni cattle also possess
excellent selective grazing and browsing abilities, which enables it to obtain optimal nutrition
from the available natural vegetation, thus enabling it to survive under conditions that bulk
and selective grazers such as foreign European cattle breeds would have a hard time getting
used to. Although it is small to medium sized and might not be the biggest breed of cattle
there is, the Nguni breed has very decent meat quality that goes pound for pound with rival
and so called ‘premium’ European beef breeds.6

Ncube et al mention of an interesting and gradual trend to emerge from the Matabeleland
beef industry. The types of cattle kept by ranchers in Matabeleland have changed with time.
Notably they mention of donations undertaken by the Kellogg Foundation to rehabilitate
cattle lost during the war, and how after this intervention some farmers began having a blend
of non-descript breeds and Afrikaners while others now had a combination of Tuli, Afrikaner
and non-descript breed and the remaining had a mixture of Nguni and non-descript breed

28
types. 66.6% farmers had offspring with the Afrikaner blood within their herds. Prior to the
introduction of the Tuli, the majority of the farmers in some villages had non-descript breeds
while some farmers had solely Nguni breeds and others had a combination of Tuli and Nguni
breed types while the rest had Brahman and non-descript breeds. They further conclude that
after the introduction of the Tuli breed various combinations of breeds emerged, namely;
Tuli, Brahman and non-descript, Tuli, Nguni and non-descript, Tuli and Brahman, Tuli and
Nguni, Tuli and non-descript as well as the combination of Tuli, Nguni and Brahman.7
Chavunduka attempts to correct this retrogressive step by encouraging communities to use
indigenous bulls. He goes on to recommend the Tuli and the Nkone for the south and south
east and south west regions of the country and the Shona for the communal areas in the high
rainfall areas. Phenotypically, indigenous type females are selected for breeding8

2.3 The Role and Purpose of Cattle

The role played by cattle has been a topic that is akin to a shape shifter: the roles have tended
not to be rigid but have changed as time has progressed. Cattle are considered a most valued
possession and are the main means of subsistence for even communal inhabitants. They serve
a lot of purposes, especially in Matabeleland as they are a source of food, mainly meat and
milk; they are a symbol of wealth and high societal status as well as being a source of by-
products such as animal hides and jewellery. To understand the multiplicity of roles that
cattle possess, one has to look at Chavunduka who cites Hughes and places their roles into
three main categories, the "socio-spiritual", the "crypto-economic" and the "economic". 9 This
classification being very accurate as it explains that cattle have three main facets in society,
and that has been the case since as far as the first natives settled in the nation. The socio-
spiritual refers to the sacrosanct nature of cattle as materials and elements of which include
but not limited to using them in sacrificial rituals and appeasement of ancestors. Crypto-
economic refers to the monetary value especially in the linear process of buying and selling
cows, and economic then casts wide the net by acknowledging the multiplicity of financial
value of cattle. Rifkin goes for the historiographical route when he describes the importance
and role of cattle, by touching on the never changing and omnipresent importance of cattle in
the development and civilization of humans. He asserts that:

A unique relationship has been forged between human beings and cattle
over the millennia of history. We have prayed to these animals, sacrificed
them to the gods, and used them to provide food, clothing, shelter,

29
 traction and fuel. They have enriched our spiritual lives and fed our
appetites. We have elevated them to divine status, yoked them to the
plough to turn the soil, milked them to provide nourishment for our
young, and eaten them to gain strength and energy.... The bull and the
cow, of the bovine species, have travelled with us from the very
beginning of our sojourn. Their fate and ours have been intertwined in a
myriad of ways and at every critical juncture of human history.10

In this regard, one needs to appreciate the depth to which cattle has entrenched itself on the
cultures of the Matabeleland people such that there arose a need to create an industry based
on it. The socio-spiritual aspect of the cattle cannot be overlooked as it is one of the pillars
that define its importance. Cattle have been used, extensively and religiously so in the
payment of lobola and as payment in the form of fines for bad deeds and in ceremonies to
appease the ancestral spirits.11 Scoones treads the path of the commercial value of cattle
tentatively, as he reveals that the significance of cattle as meat and cash providers has rapidly
and firmly dwindled over time. He further explains that this is due to the paradigm shift in
roles that are played by cattle, including and especially in the agro pastoral system as
providers of draft and later manure inputs, as the system has become more integrated and the
numbers of 'surplus' cattle in relation to farming needs diminished.12

One has to acknowledge that inasmuch as these functions and purposes possessed very high
importance especially to the people that avidly took part in cattle rearing and cattle ranching
especially during the late 19th century right up to its midterm, they have since declined and
lost their previous high value due to the fact that these values have been tempered with
because of a change in the lifestyles and living conditions of the people. Cattle are given as
gifts to visitors and relatives, and as starting capital for youth and newly married man. They
are used to strengthen relationships with in-laws and to maintain family contacts by
entrusting them to other family members. The relative importance of each of the cattle
functions vary and differ with farmers’ objectives, production system, rangeland type, region
and socio-economic factors such as gender, marital status, age, education and religion of the
keepers. Arguably it has become a global heresy that the crypto-economic functions are the
most important element in cattle present day, whereas there are many other key roles and
functions of cattle that in a way outweigh the crypto-economic spectrum of cattle. Cattle are
an important means of production and under settled occupation they are required to provide

30
manure, milk and draught power, as postulated by Chavunduka. 13 Chavunduka further
concluded that in view of the lack of spare parts for tractors, lack or skipping of servicing of
vehicles and regular breakdowns has made cattle the most dependable source of draught
power for the communal lands.14

When it comes to the business of buying and selling of cattle; especially the selling part of it,
it is often asserted that the tribesman and the one in possession of cattle needs quite a lot of
convincing in order to part ways and sell his or her beast as in most cases the owner of the
cattle becomes more invested and excited in how big the kraal is rather than in the monetary
value of his animal. In parts of the Matabeleland such as in Gwanda and Beitbridge the
average cattle population is generally higher and there is a consequent higher offtake of ±14
percent from these communal areas. One can safely deduce conclusions that from this that
there is little "reluctance” to sell once subsistence needs have been met. 15 Cousins concluded
that the role of cattle has been one that has had to change conformity based on the community
in question. He further analyses the fact that cattle goes beyond the conventional roles it has
been assigned to of food and other tangible by products, and is quick to emphasize that cattle
can also be used as a means of transport, especially during the ‘off’ season. The economic
value of cattle is another facet which he touches on, dwelling mostly on the fact that cattle
has played a major role in being the provider of one of the main pillars of the Zimbabwean
economy over the years, and in the case of the Matabeleland beef industry, he is of the notion
that the offtake tends to be higher because of the factors such as adequate veld and pastures
as well as prime weather conditions. Moreover, he attends to the ‘Elephant in the Dark’;
where he refers to the gender imbalances that exist within the cattle distribution system across
Zimbabwe and Matabeleland is not spared in his scathing analysis as he calls for the
incorporation of women into the cattle breeding picture so as to expand and grow the roles of
cattle as women themselves have knowledge to share and impart that could be of significant
value to the Matabeleland beef industry.16

Despite the numerous efforts undertaken to pinpoint the true meaning of cattle and its roles, it
is Barrett who provides what is arguably the most coherent and substantial definition of the
roles cattle undertake in Zimbabwe, including and especially in Matabeleland. He classifies
the use of cattle in to four different categories: relating to crop production, for consumption,
household finance and the social elements. Under crop production, he lists tillage (ploughing,
ridging, weeding), provision of manure and transport (of inputs and produce; also wood,

31
water etc). For the consumption element, Barrett identifies milk for domestic consumption
(and local sale) and meat, horns and other by-products for domestic consumption (and local
sale). Under household finance he concludes that cattle are mostly used for investment of
crop income (capital growth through herd growth) and savings (capital storage: for school
fees, bridewealth). Finally, Barrett makes the case that socially; cattle serve the purpose of
ritual purposes (eg installation of ancestral spirits, ritual slaughter, bridewealth) as well as
social status.17

Mr F. Moyo from Umguza District revealed that within his particular lineage, cattle has a
very symbolic meaning; besides the usual purposes that were revealed in the segments above,
he claimed in his Moyo family; cattle has been used continuously for the purposes of cattle
hides and that he rarely engages in selling any of his cattle in his kraal as this means that his
business gets compromised. He further went on to reveal how much of a market he had made
with the selling of cattle hides, and also revealed his chagrin at how diseases negative
affected his hide making business as it meant that the grades of hides were compromised. Mr.
Moyo also revealed how the economic crisis of 2008 nullified his business completely as he
was unable to run his cattle hide business as what he put in and what he got were two polar
opposites.18 Speaking of differences, Mr T. Sibanda boastfully admitted that he enjoys the
feeling of waking up every morning and taking a look at his large kraal of cows. Mr Sibanda
is a rancher based in Matobo and he revealed how he enjoys keeping cattle. There is pleasure
in numbers and that certainly is the case with Mr Sibanda and in a feat without shame or
regret says he hardly puts his esteemed Brahman stock in auction as he enjoys having social
status as man with a powerful kraal.19

2.4 The Role of the Remodelled CSC

The CSC was created as the main channel for export sales, regardless of whether live animals
or carcasses. The Commission was created to promote the beef industry, and as Mlambo
postulates, like several other public enterprises created in the colonial period, was eventually
inherited by the independent government in 1980 and continued to operate throughout the
first decade of independence, with its operations, particularly after 1985, geared to the
European market, especially Britain. In the post-1985 period, between 80 and 95 per cent of
CSC exports were to the EU (except following the 1989 FMD outbreak when other regional
markets were sought).20 Furthermore, by 1987 the parastatal was at its peak and had an

32
employee base of more than 4700 people in its livestock section. 21 Exports to non-EU
markets declined through the 1980s in comparison to the average pre-independence volume
of 47 279 tonnes (in 1979) to only 3 060 tonnes in 1990. 22 A key point to acknowledge is the
manner in which the red meat market changed dramatically during the period, with the share
of the total market controlled by the CSC reducing from 84 per cent in 1980 to only 47 per
cent a decade later. By 2002, the CSC’s share had dropped to only around 35 per cent. Private
sector operators, both small-scale butcheries and larger commercial concerns, had usurped
CSC from its monotonous throne and had acquired a significant portion of the highly coveted
market.

During this period the CSC continued to found itself losing a lot of money as profits declined
substantially, and was pivoted by regular government support. The foreign exchange derived
from the EU beef deal was seen by government as strategically so valuable that, despite the
failing economics of beef production and marketing, public support for the commercial beef
industry continued in line with pre-independence efforts, except with even more craft, guile
and intent after 1985.23 This further increased the almost perennial propaganda that leaned
more towards export oriented over locally targeted beef production in the livestock sector. In
addition, it had established a nation-wide modern infrastructure consisting of abattoirs, cold
stores, canning and other factories, which not only improved the country's capacity to process
quality beef and beef products for sale at home and abroad, but which also enabled the
Commission to manufacture and market a wide variety of other livestock products.

Sadly and somewhat unavoidably, the CSC, which was established to cater for the European
Union beef market failed to meet its annual quota besides its monopolistic advantage.
Notably, it failed to offer attractive prices to beef producers due to its cost structure. The
drastic reduction of the commercial beef herd resulted in the shortage of beef in the domestic
market and insufficient volumes of export quality beef. 24 Most high-class abattoirs, including
the Cold Storage Company, were operating at about 20 percent of their capacity during the
fast track land reform period. Mavedzenge et al also conclude and bring forward the situation
that by 2003; only 5 percent of formal beef sales went through CSC and by mid-2007, the
government of Zimbabwe announced price controls on beef, and the closing of private
abattoirs, with the requirement that all meat be marketed through the CSC. 25 Beef price
controls resulted in beef shortages on the formal market, while informal market prospered at
premium prices.

33
2.5 Adapting to the Harsh Economic Conditions.
Part of the evolution process is to adapt and get used to existing conditions. In this regard, the
Matabeleland beef industry has had to adjust to different economic hardships. The
relationship dynamic between the Matabeleland beef industry and the economy lies in its
dependency with one another; the Matabeleland beef sector as an industry provides foreign
currency for the economy through its state of crossing borders and being an export. One of
the biggest economic hardships that the industry has had to endure is Zimbabwe’s foreign
debt, a problem that has been there since the nation acquired independence. Many policies
have been introduced to counter the economic difficulties that have befallen the Matabeleland
beef industry, and some of these policies soon became unpopular amongst the cattle ranchers
in rustic Matabeleland.

The decision to scrap the beef quota by the CSC meant the beginning of the end for a lot of
cattle ranchers, and one Mr. G. Ndlovu felt the pinch when the decision was taken. Mr
Ndlovu had a business where he would buy meat from the CSC to run his butchery in
Bulawayo, and he was one of those who were overly affected. His Belmont based butchery
enjoyed steady revenue income and he was making a decent if not healthy amount almost
daily; but when his supplier shut down, he had no contingency plan. In his eyes and his own
defence; he did not need one. Upon getting an alternative in place became too much to ask
because during the year in question; 2007, he could not find an alternative with enough
volume and quantity to sustain his business. Eventually he turned to his own kraal, but the
imbalance became too much that he finished his kraal of two hundred and fifty cows in three
months trying to save himself, but in order to generate a profit, he needed new offspring to
replace the cattle he sells, and eventually his luck ran out and was forced to close business.26

However, not every policy put forward was vile and unpopular – some laws and legislature
introduced was very successful and helped solve a few headaches. Government policy
towards cattle development in Zimbabwe has tended to emphasise the importance of beef
production from the national cattle herd. Efforts to increase commercial slaughter off-take
should focus on specific Communal Lands where agro-ecology and socio-economic
circumstances are particularly favourable to development of beef production units within the
local farming system, rather than national programmes. Barrett concluded that generally,
efforts to increase commercial off-take might be more successful if directed towards older

34
unproductive animals rather than the prime two or three year old stock which the CSC may
prefer to slaughter but which communal farmers are rational to retain in their herds.27

2.6 Conclusion
Evolutionary is one way of describing the Matabeleland Beef Industry. The industry has, in
its bid to seek relevance and importance has adjusted and adapted numerous times, and this is
evidenced by how it has negotiated itself in the midst of harsh economic challenges, as well
as the roles of the CSC and cattle itself, as well as accommodating new cattle breeds. In order
to survive, one needs to adapt and that certainly is the case with the Matabeleland Beef
Industry.

35
ENDNOTES
1. Interview with Mrs G. Dube, Tsholotsho, 30/08/2019.
2. Zimbabwe Herd Breeders Association, Beef Breeders’ J. Publ. Zimbabwe Herdbook,
1991.
3. L.T Tracey, Approach to Farming in Southern Rhodesia, (London, Ministry of
Agriculture) 1945, 12-13.
4. Ibid
5. V. E. M. Machingaidze, The Development of Settler Capitalist Agriculture in S.
Rhodesia, with Particular Reference to the Role of the State, 1908-1939, (unpub.
DPhil thesis, University of London) 1980, 292.
6. Zimbabwe Herd Breeders Association, 1991.
7. A. Ncube, A.B Dube, C.T Khombe, N. Assan, “Issues and concerns in pro poor
community based cattle breeding program in Bulilimamangwe district of Zimbabwe”,
Scientific Journal of Animal Science, Vol. 4 (4), 2015, 42-44.
8. D.M Chavunduka, ‘The Lutheran World Federation’s Cattle Rehabilitation and
Development Programme’ in (ed.) B. Cousins, People, Land and Livestock:
Proceedings of a Workshop on the Socio-Economic Dimensions of Livestock
Production in the Communal Lands of Zimbabwe, (Harare, Centre for Applied Social
Sciences), 1989, 391-93.
9. Ibid
10. J. Rifkin, Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Culture, (New York, Dutton
Books) 1992, 16.
11. J.C Jackson, “Exploring livestock incomes in Zimbabwe’s Communal Lands” in (ed.)
B. Cousins, People, Land and Livestock: Proceedings of a workshop on the socio-
economic dimensions of livestock production in the Communal Lands of Zimbabwe,
(Harare, Centre for Applied Social Sciences), 1989, 120-121.
12. I. Scoones, Livestock Populations and the Household Economy: A Case Study from
Southern Zimbabwe, (pub. Thesis, University of London), 1990, 105.
13. D.M Chavunduka, “The Lutheran World Federation’s Cattle Rehabilitation and
Development Programme’, 389.
14. Ibid
15. Ibid
16. B. Cousins, “The Elephant in the Dark” in B. Cousins (ed.), People, Land and
Livestock: Proceedings of a Workshop on the Socio-Economic Dimensions of

36
 Livestock Production in the Communal Lands of Zimbabwe, (Harare, Centre for
Applied Social Sciences), 1989, 15-23.
17. J C Barrett, Valuing animal draught in agropastoral farming systems in Zimbabwe.
In: ‘Tillage, past and future’, Proceedings of a workshop held at the Institute of
Agricultural Engineering, 1991, 6.
18. Interview with Mr. F. Moyo, Bulawayo, 30/09/2019.
19. Interview with Mr. T. Sibanda, Bulawayo, 26/09/2019.
20. A.S Mlambo, “The Cold Storage Commission: A Colonial Parastatal 1938-1963”,
Zambezia Vol. 23 (1), 1996, 54.
21. Ibid.
22. Zimbabwe, Report of the Committee of Enquiry into Parastatals (Justice G. Smith -
Chairman, Dec. 1988), 22.
23. Sunday News, “The Historical Footprint of CSC”, Accessed on 21/09/2019,
https://sundaymail.co.zw/the-historical-footprint-of-csc
24. Ibid.
25. B.Z. Mavedzenge, J. Mahanehene, F. Murimbarimba, I. Scoones, W. Wolmer, ‘The
dynamics of real markets: Cattle in southern Zimbabwe following land reform’.
Development Change, Vol. 39 (4), 2010, 615-616.
26. Interview with Mr. G. Ndlovu, Bulawayo, 21/09/2019.
27. J.C Barrett, Valuing animal draught, 20.

37
CHAPTER 3

THE CHALLENGES FACING THE MATABELELAND BEEF INDUSTRY

3.1 Introduction
The commercial cattle rearing industry in Matabeleland finds itself drowning in constraints
that range from natural disaster to man made errors. From the post-colonial period up to a
thirty year period, the industry has been riddled with so many challenges and constraints that
have constantly threatened to ruin the agro pastoral industry of Matabeleland. The major
challenges that hurt the industry include vicious diseases and pestilences, low production and
output due to poor agrarian land reforms; chiefly the Fast Track Land Resettlement Program
and gross mismanagement. These constraints often attack at the same time, thus making
commercial beef production an absolute nightmare for cattle ranchers.

3.2: The disease and pestilence conundrum

Diseases and pestilences can be argued to be as old as time, where there is a life form there is
a biological parasite that exists solely for the purpose of killing this life form. The above
statement could not be more accurate than with the case of the Matabeleland beef industry,
which since inception has found itself susceptible, vulnerable and at times almost defenceless
when it comes to illnesses and pestilences. The disease and pestilence conundrum can be
traced as far back as the late 19th century, with the outbreak of the first major epidemic, the
notorious foot and mouth outbreak.

Soon after the country attained independence, the Matabeleland beef industry inherited a lot
from the war. Some of it was cattle, a part of it was rubble but crucially most of it was disease
and illnesses that hit the area and left a wake of destruction in its trail. Diseases and
pestilences became a major problem to the Matabeleland beef industry mostly due to their
frequency and extent, and from then have established themselves as major perennial
constraints to communal cattle production and are endemic in most Zimbabwe communal
areas. Matabeleland, falling under natural regions IV and V, is arid and hot throughout the
year. The chief culprits as far as illnesses are concerned usually are foot and mouth disease
and anthrax. Scoones pays particular attention to FMD; delving into its various elements that
include frequency, its gravity and its costly nature. As far as FMD is concerned, Scoones

38
goes as far as to say that the presence of FMD has meant the total withdrawal of exports of
beef to the European Union – a trade that at some point brought in as much as US$50 million
annually up to 2001.1 He further concludes that in the face of diseases such as HIV/AIDS,
FMD seems to be a far less headache; yet it has arguably similar if not worse consequences.2

In a pattern familiar to present day, a ban was imposed on all live exports of cattle. The loss
of markets made the value of cattle decrease to a lot of ranchers, most of which were just
establishing themselves and this prompted them to leave the industry. A lack of capital,
recurrent disease and poor market infrastructure heavily disturbed its development. This
difficult economic environment lead to a major decision being taken in 1985 when
Zimbabwe, alongside Botswana, Namibia, and Swaziland (all members of the Africa,
Caribbean and Pacific group [ACP]), negotiated a deal with the European Union (EU) for
export of boneless beef under a generous reduced-tariff, preferential-access arrangement.
Zimbabwe was allocated a quota of 9 100 tonnes per year, generating around US$50 million
of much-need foreign exchange each year.3

Between the two decades of the 1980s and 1990s, beef exports steadily improved, with 4 397
tonnes exported to the EU in 1986 and 9 184 tonnes in 2000, peaking at 14 503 tonnes in
1993, up from a minimum level of 715 following the FMD outbreak of 1989 and a resulting
18-month ban. As a result, FMD control measures were introduced and implemented in
Zimbabwe, backed and bankrolled by EU support.4 Significant aid funds, in addition to on-
going government expenditures, were thus invested in keeping a commercial beef industry
going. Measures included fenced zonation through establishing FMD-free beef export
catchment, buffer or vaccinated, surveillance, and infected zones; surveillance and
monitoring systems (including inspections at diptanks, auction sales and prior to issuing
movement permits and during disease investigations); strict movement control (involving
policed roadblocks between zones and on roads to conservancies and wildlife areas, as well
as enforcement of movement permits); isolation and quarantining (of infected stock and those
being moved to slaughter); and vaccination (twice yearly in designated vaccination buffer
zones).5 On the other hand, veterinarians pleaded their case that ‘trans-frontier conservation
areas’ presented themselves as biological conduits for infectious diseases, and so a threat to a
long-established and critical beef industry. A combination of factors that include failure to
adequately deal with the disease and the severity of the disease itself meant that by February
2002 the disease gathered momentum and began to spread regionally to neighbouring

39
countries, with an outbreak in south-eastern Botswana blamed on illegal movement of people
and cattle from Zimbabwe.

This was the first outbreak in that country in 30 years, and this set in motion a wave of very
strict slaughter policies tailor-made to safeguard EU exports. By November 2002, FMD from
Zimbabwe foci had also spread to Mozambique, and fears were high that illegal imports of
cattle into Limpopo province in South Africa were occurring. The Zimbabwe outbreak soon
became the elephant in the room within the region as panic ridden regional discussions were
regularly done, as veterinary departments consulted one another on strategy. More
importantly, the potential political consequences for the entire region were code red.
The disease and pestilence conundrum would be incomplete if one did not bring up anthrax,
another very serious cattle disease that has a devastating ripple effect on the Matabeleland
beef industry. As was mentioned in the previous chapter, the spread of anthrax was fuelled
and propelled by the use of biological warfare by the Rhodesian armed forces over the black
African guerrilla forces during the War of Liberation. Deliberate or not, the consequences of
such a spread meant that the disease had firmly established itself on the Matabeleland
plateau, especially when one considers the fact that most of the fighting during the war took
place on the bushy rural areas. Prior to the Rhodesian Bush War, the national anthrax control
program was considered one of the most advanced and effective in Africa. This was a
program that had been in place since the mid-1950s.

During the war, vaccination for anthrax was maintained largely on commercial as opposed to
Tribal Trust Land farms due to chronic distrust of indigenous Africans directed towards
European veterinary practice.6 The disruption of standard veterinary services on the Tribal
Trust Lands during the Rhodesian Bush War can be attributed with a dramatic resurgence of
the dreaded anthrax disease in cattle, and effectively anthrax had been thoroughly neutralized
in Rhodesia prior to 1978. First recognition of the anthrax epidemic was in Nkayi District,
Matabeleland Province, November 1978, with a low number of human cases reported until
June 1979. All of the reported cases were associated with the butchering, slaughtering and
skinning of local cattle.7 Nkayi Hospital would later report over 500 cases from January 1979
to October 1980, which was one and a half times more than that of all human cases reported
from 1926 to 1977. Approximately half of these cases required hospitalization, with 17
fatalities. Eight of the fatalities were due to respiratory anthrax. The remainder died of sepsis
that followed a cutaneous lesion. This was considered the first phase of the epidemic.8

40
Arguably the biggest let down in all of this series of unfortunate events is the poor control of
these diseases and pestilences. The clear and present danger of disease and pestilences tends
to be further compounded by the lack of adequate response to the disaster at hand. An
interview conducted with E.S Mdluli, a cattle rancher of nearly 40 years’ experience revealed
the frustrations surrounded with the anthrax virus outbreak, stating that in his area of
operation in Lockhard, Fort Rixon the anthrax virus spread like wildfire, and it is then that
various factors conspire against the regular cattle rancher. In his case, he mentions the
anthrax spread of 2004 as having dire consequences for his herd as it swept through and
caught him ill-prepared, as he found himself in a spot of bother because his anthrax
vaccination pills were not enough to treat his infected cattle, and the nearest veterinary was
very far. Moreover, once he was there the service delivery was poor such that on top of
waiting in the queue for ridiculously long periods of time, not all that waited were attended to
or given medication.9

Many a time the impact tends to become mainly high mortalities, and this has a disastrous
effect on production through dry season weight loss which reduces fertility through nutrition
induced stress. Poor control of diseases has negative financial and productivity implications
as a significant portion and amount of calves are born during the dry season. The breakdown
in enforcement of cattle movement control occurred at a time when, due to the wider collapse
of the economy and on-going restructuring, the Veterinary Department was experiencing
severe budgetary constraints. This was further caused by staff vacancies due to serious factors
that include economic migration and HIV/AIDS, as well as shortages of fuel, vehicles and
foreign exchange; especially USD with which to buy vaccines. All these factors significantly
impaired the capacity of the Veterinary Department. Poor service delivery troubled the
Matabeleland Beef Industry especially when it comes down to swiftness in response to
disease and pestilence outbreak as well as distribution of medicine.

3.3: Inequality as a problem

The cattle ownership pattern throughout Matabeleland show greatly skewed distribution
patterns. The general poverty of a stratified rural society explains and contributes very much
to the said skewness in the livestock distribution pattern. Most communal farmers lack

41
finance to purchase livestock. Recent research has shown that there is a marked
differentiation in levels of remittances of off-farm incomes. This directly influences levels of
asset accumulation in rural areas, including purchasing power as well as acquisition of
livestock. As postulated by Chipika, there is the issue of differentiation in agricultural
income, which to a large extent relies on the level of initial assets such as access to land,
failing implements and number of cattle owned and overall it contributes to the reinforcement
of rural inequality.10 Chipika further concludes that this situation ultimately leads to a vicious
circle of socio-economic inequality not only in livestock ownership, but also in the ownership
pattern of other essential resources, of importance to mention is that general living standards
of households are also affected.11

Livestock, cattle included; can be described as an asset that women can own more easily and
that have the potential to contribute to a reduction in the gender asset gap within
households.12 Splitting hairs between ownership and decision-making can be problematic on
the basis of cattle as women-owned assets, as it is essential to establish whether they can sell,
give out and slaughter cattle, and whether they can make the decisions independently or have
to consult other members of the household, especially their husbands. It has become easier
for many women in developing countries; Matabeleland included, in acquiring livestock
assets, including and especially cattle. This assertion is purported by Jacobs, who bring up the
view that the acquisition of cattle has been done through inheritance, markets or collective
action processes, and these means of getting cattle has proven to be easier and more effective
than it is for them to purchase cattle. 13 The relative informality of livestock property rights
can, however, be disadvantageous to women when their ownership of cattle is questioned and
challenged. Interventions that increase women’s access and rights to livestock, and then
safeguard the women from dispossession and their stock from theft or untimely death are not
so plenty and this is a pity because these interventions have the potential to provide
substantial assistance to women in moving along a way out of poverty.

Still on poverty; it is in the communal farming sector and is also closely associated with the
historical development of the so-called "Native Reserves". During the colonial period the vast
majority of peasant farmers were forced onto infertile sandy soils with low productivity. The
dualistic pattern of development of Zimbabwean agriculture whereby the large scale
commercial farming sector (dominated by white farmers) received a disproportionately large
share of essential scarce resources, such as more fertile land, supportive inputs and

42
infrastructure at the expense of the communal farming sector largely provides a deep
explanation into the poverty of a large number of communal farmers in Zimbabwe. Although
the post-independence government has made some attempt to redress this situation, the
problems that emanated from the colonial period still exist today. However, whilst some
communal farmers have over the years managed to become surplus producers of agricultural
products, a large number of the communal farmers have not been able to break out of the
barriers of poverty.

In the severe consecutive droughts from 1982 to 1985 many cattle keeping families lost much
of their cattle, and sometimes their entire stock. Even as the years continued, many of the
peasant farmers have not been able to rebuild their stock. The rebuilding exercise has been
heavily affected by the rapid rise in the purchase price of cattle over the past years, which has
risen by some 65 percent, without a corresponding increase in incomes. 14 Cattle have
traditionally not been regarded as a major source of cash in communal areas because of their
status symbol functions. This has contributed to fewer cattle being available for sale in the
markets, with the distribution pattern of cattle among communal farmers remaining much in
favour of those with more cattle over the years.

3.4 Feeding and Cattle Nutrition

The sustainable and prolonged utilisation of both natural and reinforced natural pastures
under private, commercial or common ownership within the Matabeleland beef industry
structures relies on good grazing management and good animal husbandry practices. Good
grazing aims at improving livestock production, conserving the vegetation cover of
rangelands and reducing the risk of irreversible environmental degradation. Presently in
Southern Africa, good grazing management is seen in the perspective of rotational grazing or
short-duration grazing. Beneficial effects have been demonstrated, both on veld and animal
productivity, of short-duration grazing that provides rest periods for portions of the
rangelands, especially during the critical growing season.
Positively, it can be argued that communal herds in Matabeleland fully and extensively utilise
the veld "better" than commercial herds because they are normally composed of a variety of
species including sheep, goats, equines and especially cattle. Strange observed that cattle
graze tops of under-storey plants, they also prefer grasses and forbs, and leave the vegetation
patchy, as well as grazing very close to the ground. Feeding of cattle is very important for the
Matabeleland beef industry as from the technical point of view insufficient feed supply, in

43
terms of both quantity and quality, is usually cited as the major cause of poor livestock
production in communal areas. This conclusion is brought forward by Chinembiri, who
further purports that the winter or dry season is the time when feed is in shortest supply. 15
During the season of winter; the available fodder tends to be characterized by a deficiency in
protein. This shortage of energy and protein becomes a major contributor to decreased animal
productivity. Besides a loss of weight within animals, the calving percentage drops, milk
yields drop, conception rates drop, and draught animals are too weak to perform their duties.16

The serious shortage of dry season feed is mainly caused by an overgrazing in the wet season
which disturbs the natural feeding balance as it does not allow a sufficient carryover of
grazing land for the dry season. When one mentions of feed supply the major nutritional
constraint to production is a shortage of energy and this occurs especially during the dry
season. Decreasing availability of grazing areas, due to increased land requirements for arable
production and settlement can be pinned down as another major reason why dry season feed
tends to be so low in Matabeleland. Insufficient availability and inefficient use of crop
residue is another constraint that has presented itself constantly to the Matabeleland beef
industry, as noted by one Mr. E. Dube; a cattle rancher based in Madlelenyoni, an area within
Ntabazinduna. He paid particular attention to the drought of 2008 as one that heavily affected
his productivity due to a lack of crop residue due to the harsh unavailability of rainfall during
the rainy season. The use of crop residue as fodder is seen as a very cost effective solution to
dealing with the nutrition deficiency situation, but much if not all of it totally relies on nature;
especially rainfall for it to exist in the first place. Mr Dube further revealed that crop residue
as fodder was a concept that has been generational within his family, being passed from as far
back as the earliest ranchers within his family and he intends to pass the same information to
his sons once they reach a mature and wise age.17

A serious increase in cattle numbers due to a shift in the economic and social value and
significance of cattle in communal area farming systems is another major issue that ought to
be brought up when one mentions the issue of cattle feeding and nutrition within the
Matabeleland beef industry set up. This scenario put in layman’s terms entails that the
significance and purpose played by cattle has changed over time and this has led to cattle
numbers increasing as a result. Taking into consideration the element of cattle being used as
means of payment of lobola by default means an increased influx of herd of cattle in the
kraal, and this influx is always on the side of the bride. In this light; areas set aside for

44
grazing and pastures tend to be limited and there tends to be chaotic and disorganized feeding
as the density for grazing areas tends to be compromised by this body count increase. This
can also be said to be down to poor management of the remaining grazing areas.

3.5 The Land Issue

The 'land question' was the initial cassus belle that propelled the war for independence and
post-independence, has been a spot of bother for various stakeholders ranging from
politicians as well as policymakers. Contextually, within the Matabeleland Beef Industry,
land has provided a headache and an opportunity at the same time for cattle ranchers due to
the fact that in simple prosaic explanations; it is land to which cattle roam around on top of.
The need to address previous imbalances in land utilisation for agriculture and increase
smallholder cattle production was necessary to create room for new players in the livestock
industry and afford them an opportunity to engage in commercial or market driven beef cattle
production. After independence, uncontrolled settlement in demarcated forests continued in
Matabeleland North following the outbreak of a civil war in the western part of the country
between the minority Ndebele and military forces of the newly elected government of
independent Zimbabwe. This civil war resulted in a complete breakdown in forest
administration, furthering resource depletion and illegal settlement in both the forests and
surrounding large-scale commercial farms.

Post-independence land reform initiatives have been observed with an eagle eye by various
parties involved, as they have been seen as very crucial to the developmental side of the
country's future. A good place to start would be in Matabeleland South province, where
Alexander reveals that the land tenure system in this province prior to the 2000 Fast Track
Land reform programme was the same as the rest of the country. 18 There were communal
areas (including common grazing land), resettlement areas, irrigation schemes and white
commercial farms. The issue of land resettlement and land availability after the country
attained independence presented a very difficult problem for policymakers at governmental
level. The lack of abandoned land, the pattern of squatting and the unpopularity of official
resettlement models all conspired to constrain and frustrate land redistribution in
Matabeleland soon after independence. Though colonial land alienation had been particularly
extensive in Matabeleland, the provinces accounted for only ten per cent of land purchased
for resettlement in early 1981.19 Land acquisition moved rather slowly due to the relatively

45
small number of abandoned commercial ranches available for purchase in 1980. Nor was
there pressure on the government to increase the speed and scope of resettlement from large-
scale squatter occupations as in Manicaland and parts of Mashonaland. In these areas,
squatters from communal areas effectively gained control over who was resettled if not over
how they were settled.20

Largely as a result of political and military conflict, however, analyses of the process of land
redistribution in the western Matabeleland Provinces are very few and far between, of which
a very interesting area is Insiza District in Matabeleland South as questions over resettlement
which shaped Matabeleland's post- independence development remained omnipresent.
Recurring droughts during the 1980s meant Matabeleland's peasant producers got the wrong
end of the stick and effectively made them dependent on government relief for survival.
Alexander reveals that the three years of drought preceding 1984/85 devastated cattle
holdings as well as crop production, further alluding that Matabeleland did not participate in
the cash crop boom of the mid-1980s; cattle herds have not, even now, been fully restocked. 21
Instead, the almost continuous and consistent dry spells and droughts experienced in the
1980s shortly after independence grew into an umbilical cord, meaning persistent dependence
on state-supplied food and jobs threatened the strength of Matabeleland's rustic producers and
cattle were not spared in this period of frustration and incapacitation.

According to Alexander, Matabeleland's squatter population was largely drawn from the
ranks of workers formerly employed on farms and mines, not from residents of communal
areas. In Insiza District, farm workers on Wanezi Ranch were given resettlement land in early
1983 when they found themselves facing eviction. A severe drought accompanied the
increased level of violence in Matabeleland.22 From early 1982, communal area fanners in
Matabeleland, the Midlands, and other parts of the country faced food shortage and
consequentially, thousands of cattle began to die. The CSC devised an emergency strategy
dubbed ‘Operation Cattle Rescue’, in which they purchased almost $6 million worth of cattle
from communal area fanners between January and May 1982, an increase of 174 percent over
normal sale levels.23 The rationale behind this was to take in ‘dying’ calves and try to restore
what seemed like a giant on its knees. Communal area stock owners are normally reluctant to
sell cattle because the costs of restocking are often beyond their reach, especially for those
with small herds. Selling cattle often means depriving the farming system of important inputs
like manure and draft power. In July, the government reported that the lives of 120,000

46
people were threatened by drought and that it might have to feed as many as two million
people.

Alexander further notes that unsettled ranches in Matabeleland did not stand idle and that
some of these unsettled ranches were leased to civilians, in most cases civil servants, to use as
grazing land while others were allocated to the state farm parastatal. Government planners
also sought to put land to use through an alternative grazing-based resettlement model. Be
that as it may, the new model's implementation was hampered by dissident violence and a
lack of local participation, boiling down to civilians not being fully swayed and fully lured
into the system. In addition, administrators continued to push for the original arable based
model in order to absorb mine and farm workers who were facing eviction. From the mid-
1980s on, a considerable amount of state land went unsettled. According to the 1985
Matabeleland South Five Year Development Plan, slightly over half of the 384,379 hectares
of land purchased from the commercial sector had been settled. In 1989, only 1,878 families
had been settled on 44 per cent of the then 503,671 hectares purchased for resettlement.24

Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform Programme in 2000 programme facilitated the
acquisition of large-scale commercial farms for redistribution to primarily landless
indigenous populations. During this period, poverty levels grew markedly leading to an
increased dependence on natural resource exploitation. This period also corresponded with
temperature increases, erratic rainfall patterns and recurrent drought, all of which exacerbated
suffering, especially for people living in rural areas where approximately 62 per cent of the
population resides. Khombe and Ndlovu, as well as Sibanda reported that the revolutionary
changes of the Fast Track agrarian land reform resulted in the break-down of the beef
industry resulting from the reduction of the commercial herd from 30% to 7 % of the national
herd25, 26. Reduced cattle productivity in the new settlements farms have been as a result of the
scarcity of inputs, that is, stock feed due to inadequate grazing areas and drought, damaged
animal husbandry infrastructure and disrupted systematic breeding.27

3.6 Coping with the Ugly Side of Nature

Pestilences and diseases are not the only curveballs that Mother Nature throws regularly
towards the Matabeleland cattle keeping industry. Droughts and famines are constant thorns
in the flesh of the Matabeleland beef industry, as they occur regularly; almost too regularly

47
for the liking of those involved in the Matabeleland agro pastoral industry. Sometimes the
frequency in which these natural disasters occur is random and arbitrary; at times it is in a
sequential pattern like manner. One can look at the problem of drought, the gravity of its
danger and catastrophic consequences become clearer when one pays special attention to the
element of heat – it does tend to scour the Earth, and the cattle are rarely spared. Baublits et
al conclude that the exceptional challenges faced by livestock in arid and semi-arid
environments are numerous, but heat stress is one of the major challenges that animals have
to deal with for a longer period of the year. 28 The major problem with heat and the almost
obligatory heat stress in beef cattle on veld/savannah is that it is almost expected to increase
annually, mostly as a result of changing weather patterns on a global and regional scale.
Nardone et al further revealed that hot environment impairs production and affects the main
tenets of growth, meat, and milk yield and quality, as well as reproductive performance,
metabolic and health status, and immune response. 29 Gregory also throws an eye opening
observation by revealing the manner in which heat can manifest and affect meat quality, and
this comes in two major ways. Firstly, there are direct effects on organ and muscle
metabolism during heat exposure which can persist after slaughter. The other major effect lies
in the changes in cattle management practices in response to temperature changes in a way
accidentally or indirectly lead to changes in meat quality. 30 Gregory further attributes this to
adaptation to local environmental conditions and how this adaptability and familiarization
with climatic and economic conditions leads to a different type of meat; better, tougher
grades of beef.31

Secondly, recurring droughts during the 1980s left Matabeleland's peasant producers
dependent on government relief. The three years of drought preceding 1984/85 devastated
cattle holdings as well as crop production. Matabeleland did not participate in the cash crop
boom of the mid-1980s; cattle herds have not, even now, been fully restocked. Instead, the
nearly continuous droughts of the 1980s created a persistent dependence on state-supplied
food and jobs with the effect of limiting the autonomy of Matabeleland's rural producers. As
climate change strengthened, drought became more frequent and severe in southern Africa,
and that - combined with the El Nino phenomenon - took a heavy toll on rural lives and
economies. Zimbabwe and especially Matabeleland is one of many areas that felt the strain of
El Nino, which dried up rainfall across southern Africa in 2010, killing crops, disrupting
hydropower production and forcing local water authorities to enforce stringent water
rationing in some areas.32

48
During 1991-92, the largest cause of mortality was death due to starvation or extreme water
shortage. Low nutritional status inevitably was linked with disease susceptibility and a
number of animals died either directly from illness or were slaughtered because of disease.
Extensive searching for food required animals to wander far. Inevitably his meant that a
number were permanently lost; either they died while out foraging or they were stolen.
Foraging also had to take place in dangerous places (road edges, mountains, river banks) and
a number of cattle died due to accidents. Only very few animals were purposefully
slaughtered. Flash floods have also emerged as a headache for those involved in the
Matabeleland Beef Industry, paying particular attention to Cyclone Eline of mid-February
2000, which made its entry particularly in Matabeleland South and seriously affected cattle
production as there are cases of cattle being washed away and drowning of cattle too.33

3.7 Conclusion
The Matabeleland Beef Industry certainly has been one that has at times been defenceless to
difficulties and tough times. The constant appearing and reappearing of diseases and
pestilences such as anthrax and FMD have made the operation of this industry very tough and
cumbersome. Inequality, be it of an economic or gender based orientation also negatively
affects the Matabeleland Beef Industry. The nutrition and malnutrition of cattle is also
another problem bugging the Matabeleland Beef Industry. Land has always remained an
issue, it is the sole purpose that drove people to war in the first place, and it pops up again in
the Matabeleland Beef Industry. Lastly, climate change presents another stumbling block for
the Matabeleland Beef Industry. Some of these problems come with caveats, others do not,
but the fact remains that they are making the Matabeleland Beef Industry a difficult industry
to operate.

49
ENDNOTES

1. I. Scoones, W. Wolmer, “Land, Landscapes and Disease: The Case of Foot and
Mouth in Southern Zimbabwe”, South African Historical Journal, Vol. 58 (2), 2007,
41.

2. Ibid, 43.

3. B.D. Perry, T. Forman, A. Woods, T.F. Randolph, S. Ashley, R. Chimedza, J.

Morrisson, C. Poulton, L. Sibanda, C. Stevens, N. Tebele, I. Yngström, The Impact
and Poverty Reduction Implications of Foot and Mouth Disease Control in Southern
Africa, with Special Reference to Zimbabwe, Nairobi, Astrid Publications, 2003, 51.
4. I. Scoones, W. Wolmer, “Land, Landscapes and Disease”, 47.
5. A.D.S. Bastos, ‘Detection and Characterization of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus in
sub-Saharan Africa’, Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, No. 65, 1998,
46–47.
6. W. Mwatwara, A history of state veterinary services and African livestock regimes in
colonial Zimbabwe, c. 1896–1980, (pub. Diss, Stellenbosch University), 2015, 83.
7. S.M. Chikerema, D.M. Pfukenyi, G Matope, E. Bhebhe, “Temporal and spatial
distribution of cattle anthrax outbreaks in Zimbabwe between 1967 and 2006”,
Tropical Animal Health and Production, Vol. 44 (1), 2012, 63–64.
8. J.C Davies, “A major epidemic of anthrax in Zimbabwe (Part I)”, Central African
Journal of Medicine, Vol. 28, (12), 1982, 291–92.
9. Interview with Mr E.S Mdluli, Bulawayo, 26/09/2019.
10. S. Chipika, “Livestock Ownership and Inequality With Particular Reference to Cattle:
The Case of Some Communal Areas in Zimbabwe”, in (ed.) B. Cousins, People, Land
and Livestock: Proceedings of a Workshop on the Socio-Economic Dimensions of
Livestock Production in the Communal Lands of Zimbabwe, (Harare, Centre for
Applied Social Sciences,) 1989, 374-375.
11. P. Kristjanson, A. Waters-Bayer, N. Johnson, A. Tipilda, J. Njuki, I. Baltenweck,
Livestock and Women’s Livelihoods: A Review of the Recent Evidence, ILRI
Discussion Paper No. 20., (Nairobi, International Livestock Research Institute), 2010,
86-88.
12. Ibid.

50
13. S. Jacobs, “Women and land resettlement in Zimbabwe”, Review of African Political
Economy Vol. 10 (27), 1983, 33–34.
14. S. Sibanda, C.T Khombe, ‘Livestock research and development’ in (eds.) M. Rukuni,
P. Tawonezvi and C. Eicher, Zimbabwe’s Agricultural Revolution Revisited, (Harare,
University of Zimbabwe Publications), 2006, 84.
15. F.M. Chinembiri, “Livestock Extensions Programmes and Packages in the Communal
Lands of Zimbabwe” in (ed.) B. Cousins, People, Land and Livestock: Proceedings of
a Workshop on the Socio-Economic Dimensions of Livestock Production in the
Communal Lands of Zimbabwe, Centre for Applied Social Sciences, (Harare, Centre
for Applied Sciences), 1989, 138-140.
16. Ibid.
17. Interview with Mr E. Dube, Bulawayo, 29/09/2019
18. J. Alexander, “The Unsettled Land: The Politics of Land Redistribution in
Matabeleland, 1980-1990”, Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 17 (4), 1991,
582-583.
19. Ibid, 584.
20. E.P Mutema, “The fast Track Land Reform Programme: Reflecting on the challenges
and opportunities for Resettlement former farm workers at Fairfield farm in Gweru
District in Zimbabwe”, Journal for sustainable development in Africa, Vol. 14 (5),
110-112.
21. J. Alexander, “The Unsettled Land”, 581.
22. B. Masunda, L.R. Mutetwa, Beef production in the Post Land reform period: An
analysis of some success stories In: The Livestock sector after the Fast Track Land
Reforms in Zimbabwe, (Harare, Print Force Production), 2008, 105-107.
23. J. Alexander, “The Unsettled Land”, 589.
24. Ibid, 590.
25. C.T Khombe, L.R. Ndlovu, The Livestock sector after the Fast Track Land Reforms
in Zimbabwe, (Harare, Print Force Production), 2008, 91-92.
26. R Sibanda, Key issues and trends in the livestock sector: A case study for Zimbabwe,
Desktop study submitted to ICRISAT and ILRI. P.O, Zimbabwe, 2005, 107.
27. Ibid
28. R.T. Baublits, A.H. Brown Jr, F.W. Pohlman, “Carcass and beef colour characteristics
of three biological types of cattle grazing cool-season forages supplemented with
soyhulls”, Meat Science, Vol. 68 (2), 2004; 297-299.

51
29. A. Nardone, B. Ronchi, N. Lacetera , M.S. Ranieri, U. Bernabucci, “Effects of climate
changes on animal production and sustainability of livestock systems”, Livestock
Science Vol. 130 (1), 2010; 57-59.
30. Ibid.
31. N.G. Gregory, “How climatic changes could affect meat quality”, Food Research
International, Vol. 43 (7), 2010, 1868.
32. Ibid, 1877.
33. Ibid, 1880.

52
CHAPTER 4

DEALING WITH THE CHALLENGES PLAGUING THE MATABELELAND BEEF

INDUSTRY

4.1 Introduction

The presence of a problem almost immediately screams out for a solution to it, and such is
the case with the Matabeleland beef industry. There have been ways in which the challenges
that plague it have been attended to, and the end result has been a bit of both negative and
positive. In this chapter, the role and impact of foreign aid will be assessed and analysed,
especially looking at the implications of these solutions and whether or not they have
unfavourable clauses to them, The steps taken by the Government will be thoroughly looked
at, and whether or not funds have been put aside towards dealing with the various problems
affecting the Matabeleland beef industry, as well as how funds that have been used in dealing
with these problems.

4.2 The impact of aid in mitigating problems within the Matabeleland Beef Industry
Chavunduka began his argument from as far back as 1982-84 as he revealed the devastating
and very severe drought that the country went through, paying particular attention especially
to the south and south east regions of the country. He further exposited that the Matabeleland
beef industry found itself embroiled in a food relief exercise and additionally, a well digging
programme was initiated to try and tackle the issue of dryness and lack of water. 1 As part of
one of the first groups and organizations to participate in expeditions of guided by the need to
diminish and minimise the disastrous effects of drought, the LWF met very difficult and
testing situations and challenges. Chavunduka further explained that due to the unprecedented
cattle mortalities in the drier areas, the organisation was requested by church members in
Matabeleland and the Midlands to assist the people to acquire cattle so as to re-establish their
herds. He also proceeded to conclude that in a sense therefore the cattle rehabilitation
programme for the communal areas was initiated as an adjunct to the drought relief
programme.2

Chavunduka went on to describe how the default response in this cattle rehabilitation
scenario would have been to raise more donor funds to acquire enough purchasing power to

53
buy the required amount of cattle from the commercial farms and distribute them to those
groups who had requested assistance.3 Furthermore, having been hired and contracted by
LWF to work on this programme, he later explains how the conundrum had reached a point
where it needed to be thoroughly discussed amongst stakeholders so that the root causes of
these cattle losses could be analysed together with the communities and that appropriate and
long-lasting measures be crafted and developed which would tackle the problem head-on on a
more medium and long term basis. It is evident that cattle losses in these semi-arid areas are
an annual phenomenon. What had in fact alarmed the people in this case was the extent of the
losses due to the rather protracted period of drought.

The year 2008 and is almost always remembered for the economic crisis that hit hard not only
in Zimbabwean borders, but the world over. It is also remembered for the naughty drought
and subsequent, if not obligatory hunger that followed. Most farmers and cattle keepers in the
Matabeleland provinces had found themselves between a rock and a hard place as the
abovementioned destructive forces hit home with vicious power and left wreckage that left
nothing but carcasses. Mr S. Sithole of the Ndolwane portion of Tsholotsho is one of the few
success stories that somehow bit the bullet. Mr Sithole narrates of how an NGO descended
upon him like a godsend and how he was fortunate to be able to receive aid in the form of
barley from USAID for him and his family; for consumption and how a similar programme
involved cattle receiving crop residue in the form of barley stover, barley bran and brewer’s
grain. This aid, he recalled; did not necessarily nullify and reduce the hunger problem to zero,
but went a very long way in providing much needed fodder in a year where rainfall was so
rare it became borderline mythical.4

Aid, unfortunately, also has failure stories. In most cases, failure emerges in the form of
miscalculations leading to serious underutilization of allocated funds. Most of which is not
even down to any malicious or uncouth behaviour or practices, just innocent underestimation
of the gravity of the job at hand. A case in point is in 2007, when the efforts of the UN, much
appreciated by the way, proved to be toothless and barren in the fight against foot and mouth
disease that had broken out in Matabeleland. 5 The donation of USD 10.3 million was deemed
insufficient in the fight against FMD, and as such raises the point that aid can only go so far
and the problem, in this case of FMD, needs a collective and holistic approach which requires
multiple actors. The issue is further revealed on the ReliefWeb site which further exposits
that the outbreaks of FMD have become an almost annual occurrence since 2001 and

54
therefore in this light it cited a local veterinarian Luke Streak that ‘the UN money is just too,
considering the scale of the problem’.6

Dube et al brought forward an interesting but tragic case of Makumbi district in Bulilima,
which had the fortunate privilege of being chosen among a select few by the Kellogg
Foundation on a program of bull donation across various villages, and sadly the donated bulls
died in same year of donation. 7 The cause of death was blackleg and this had a very negative
and demoralizing effect on both stakeholders involved. Another gesture of goodwill produced
by foreign aid worthy of mention is the STABEX95 dip tank rehabilitation programme.
Ndhlovu concludes that in Matabeleland South province, particularly; some work done by
VEDMA Consulting Group in 2005 confirmed that tick infestation and tick borne diseases
are some of the most important conditions affecting livestock productivity and this is what
prompted, in part; the rehabilitation programme.8 The area of concentration of this
rehabilitation programme was in as already mentioned Matabeleland South and it
encompassed the Umzingwane area.

Masuku et al concluded that before the dip tank rehabilitation programme, there was poor
tick control and they experienced difficulties in controlling cattle during dipping operation. 9
They also further went on to exposit how some cattle were escaping before dipping and it was
also difficult to carry out other management practices like vaccinations, deworming,
inspections and branding as there was no race or it was not up to standard. Some diptanks had
no roof to reduce water loss due to evaporation and to prevent excessive fill from rain water.
Before diptank rehabilitation, a large chunk of farmers had resorted to the use of alternative
and makeshift dipping remedies such as used engine oil, hand spraying and hand pulling. 10 As
far as the results are concerned, there was reported positive changes experienced after the
rehabilitation of diptank handling facilities. The changes reported that were brought about by
the program included but were not limited to; ease in controlling and dipping of all cattle
brought to the diptank, a substantial reduction in TBDs, a decrease in tick infestation levels,
reduction in expenses of treating TBDs, reduction in TBD related mortalities as well as
reduction in calf loses, as well as an improvement in the dipping system, thus effective tick
control.11 Such success stories show that it is not all gloom and that aid has played a part in
mitigating the various problems associated and synonymous with the Matabeleland beef
industry.

55
4.3 Governmental Intervention on Problems Associated with the Matabeleland Beef
Industry
Hanyani-Mlambo brought about an interesting take with regards to the role that government
has played towards providing serious solutions to the issues of illnesses, malnourishment and
drought by assessing the true nature of AGRITEX. At independence, in 1980, the AGRITEX
department was formed and it was created on the basis that it would concentrate and focus on
providing agricultural extension services to the smallholder farming sector as an institutional
mandate, while servicing large-scale commercial farmers on request.12 The agricultural
extension workers are responsible for transmitting indigenous knowledge technologies,
practices and problems from farmers to specialists and researchers, thus creating a research-
extension network that is critical for appropriate research and extension communication. Its
existence serves as an institutional means of intervention towards the recurrent problems that
plague the agro-pastoral industry, especially in the Matabeleland region.

Between 2000 and 2007, in that seven year period saw an insidious amount of cattle fatalities
not just within Matabeleland, but in Zimbabwe as a whole. To place the gravity of the
situation into numerical context; the failure of the government to address bovine diseases and
pestilences led to a very serious reduction in the national herd, as it plunged from 1.4 million
in 2000 to 250 000 in 2007.13 There is absolutely no need to subterfuge or sugar-coat the
magnitude of the devastating consequences that emerged as a result of failure in dealing with
illness, and suffice to say the government has been lethargic in its approach to dealing with
the health of cattle. However, the benefit of doubt has to be given to the government,
especially when one considers that a major part of this lethargy and inability to tackle cattle
disease is down to inherited incapacitation. This unfortunate conundrum that government
finds itself in was something that was handed to them shortly after the Rhodesian Bush War,
and one can look at the scenario involving dip tanks that were destroyed and reduced to
rubble during the war, thus in a way making it a serious casualty of war.

This is not to say that the Government sat back and folded its hands in the fight to address
cattle related illnesses in Matabeleland; however it did not do enough. Such sentiments are
echoed by Mr and Mrs Nleya, husband and wife who have years of cattle rearing experience
between them. The Nleya’s mention of the FMD outbreak of 2001, and how they were
victims of the epidemic that killed the businesses of thousands in Zimbabwe. In their area of
operation which is the village of Mswigwana in the area of Mangwe, they revealed how they

56
saw their herd drop significantly in numbers, and how the nearest designated area of
assistance was in Plumtree town. To further compound their woes, they had to walk
incredibly long distances to get to the nearest AHMC and or veterinary office, they would
find very long queues of people coming from different areas and would be made to wait very
long until they got assistance. This is not to say that every time they went they would get
help, countless times they went and it was in vanity. Another disappointment they would
come into contact with was the fact that the veterinary service was in a fixed spot and they
bemoaned how, had it been mobile as in distributed to villages by means of a car or another
mode of vehicle it may have brought much needed ease of access14.

The most important area of activity in the livestock sector since independence has been the
promotion and planning of grazing schemes. Under this programme, government through its
AGRITEX department has thoroughly and extensively encouraged that grazing land in each
village is sub-divided, preferably into a minimum of four paddocks. The animals are
supposed to be grazed in rotation through these paddocks during the growing season,
allowing the implementation of the four main principles of veld management, i.e. rest, period
of stay, control of top hamper and control of stock numbers. The implementation of short
duration grazing was created with the expectation that it would lead to increased herbage
production.15 Grazing schemes may therefore result in some very dramatic increases in the
mass of herbage production, allowing some carry-over of grazing to the critical dry months.
In addition to the increased herbage productivity a number of other benefits of great socio-
economic, advantage accrue, e.g protection of crops from stray animals, relief to the
community from herding cattle, thereby allowing the communal area farmers to engage in
other productive activities, possible reversal or halting of the degradation of communal
grazing land through the development in the community of a greater sense of collective
responsibility towards the management of the common resources.

Assan concluded in an eye opening manner by revealing that in Zimbabwe, including and
especially in the Matabeleland region, there are two major yet contrasting grazing systems;
namely controlled grazing in commercial and uncontrolled grazing communal farming areas.
Commercial farms are privately owned, aimed at profit maximisation and specific production
goals such as meat or milk.16 Livestock are kept in paddocks, grazing is controlled and
improved forage species are sometimes introduced. Rotational grazing is mostly practiced in
commercial farms as purported by Cousins.17 The grazing schemes are being implemented

57
under high stocking rates. Since there are no empirical data to suggest an undisputed positive
response, the Department took it upon itself to launch a programme to monitor the impact of
grazing schemes management systems. This Veld Trend Monitoring Programme included
sites in seven grazing schemes representative of Natural Regions II to V. 18 The programme
recorded species composition, herbage yields, basal cover and erosion three times a year.

Annual rainfall was also recorded, and the programme lasted for a period of five years. The
objective of the Veld Trend Monitoring Programme mainly was to increase livestock
production. For six months of the year cattle obtain insufficient protein to meet maintenance
requirements and consequentially this leads to cattle live weights falling during the dry
season. Pasture legumes are of relatively high crude protein content, thereby providing a
good source of home grown protein supplements to livestock.19 Cousins further advises
farmers to use their fodder banks to make hay or to graze in situ during the most critical time
of the year, i.e. winter. However, the majority of the farmers still graze their fodder banks in
summer to overcome labour shortages at this time of the year. 20 Thus the fenced fodder banks
become very convenient. AGRITEX provides extension advice on the establishment,
management and utilisation of the fodder banks. Extension emphasis is now focused on the
utilisation of the pastures.

Chinembiri brought forward the case of Makoholi, where preliminary results from Makoholi
Research Station indicated that siratro can yield up to three tonnes per hectare of forage per
annum. Long story short, a hectare of forage legumes would be sufficient as supplement feed
for 3-4 productive cows or draught oxen for six months at a feeding rate of 5 to 6 kg per
day.21 He further revealed his satisfaction at seeing that fodder banks have been widely
accepted by the communal area farmer. The Animal Production Branch of AGRITEX
purchases, each year, pasture legume seed, principally fine stem stylo and siratro, for
distribution through provinces to communal area farmers. Some communal area farmers also
bought seed for themselves.22

Crop residues provide feed for communal area livestock to fall back on during the critical dry
season. Unfortunately losses between field and store are high - assessed at 30 percent dry
matter. It is reasonable to assume that a large portion of this will be the quality leaf material.
Furthermore, the use of crop residues especially legume stover for bedding in cattle kraals is
very wasteful.23 These crop residues have relatively high feed values and should be used

58
primarily as feed. To use the crop residues efficiently, handling, feeding methods and
digestibility need to be improved. But in view of the financial limitations of the majority of
communal area farmers and the lack of appropriate technology the processing or treatment of
crop residues before feeding seems unlikely. However, improved harvesting, storing and
feeding methods are the main extension thrust of the Department of AGRITEX. At the same
time AGRITEX supports trials and research work by the Department of Research and
Specialist Services on simple and appropriate crop residue treatment techniques.

It is estimated that the communal area herd consists of about 3,6 million cattle. The annual
off-take from this herd to the meat trade is low - 2,5-3 percent - compared with 16-18 percent
in the commercial sector. However it is not easy to draw comparisons between multi- and
single-purpose systems of production. In addition there is quite a substantial off-take from the
communal areas through domestic slaughters and unofficial channels to most of the rural
butcheries. It goes without saying that no statistics are available on this. Undoubtedly the
greatest improvement in the supply of beef to the meat trade could be made from the
communal areas. An improvement of off-take to a modest figure of 8 percent would mean an
additional 180 000 carcasses at CSC abattoirs. Such an improvement would go a long way to
meet the projected local demand of between 500 000 and 600 000 carcasses by the year 2000.

4.4 Conclusion
The success of mitigating these problems is very subjective, but one thing is for certain and it
is that efforts have been conjured up by either government and/or foreign NGOs. The idea is
that they all want to help, but help is gathering pace slowly but surely. To achieve success
would require a joint effort to collectively deal with the issues plaguing the Matabeleland
Beef Industry.

59
ENDNOTES

1. D.M Chavunduka, ‘The Lutheran World Federation’s Cattle Rehabilitation and

Development Programme’ in (ed.) B. Cousins, People, Land and Livestock:
Proceedings of a Workshop on the Socio-Economic Dimensions of Livestock
Production in the Communal Lands of Zimbabwe, (Harare, Centre for Applied Social
Sciences), 1989, 391-93.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid, p394.
4. Interview with Mr. S. Sibanda, Bulawayo, 28/09/2019.
5. Relief Web, “Zimbabwe: UN donates millions to fight Foot-and-mouth”, Accessed
22/09/2019 https://reliefweb.int/report/zimbabwe-un-donates-millions-fight-foot-and-
mouth.
6. Ibid.
7. A. Ncube, A.B. Dube, C.T. Khombe, N. Assan, ‘Issues and concerns in pro poor
community based cattle breeding program in Bulilimamangwe district of Zimbabwe’,
Scientific Journal of Animal Science Vol. 4 (4), 2015, 56-57.
8. D.N. Ndhlovu, Infestation and udder and teat damage in Matabeleland South,
Zimbabwe, (Msc Thesis, University of Pretoria), 2008, 86.
9. J. Masuku, A.B. Dube, B. Moyo, ‘The Impact of dip tank rehabilitation on the
occurrence of Ticks and tick borne diseases in Umzingwane District, Matabeleland
South, Zimbabwe’, Journal of Agriculture and Veterinary Science, Vol. 8 (2), 2015,
114.
10. Ibid, 116.
11. Ibid, 119.
12. B.T Hanyani-Mlambo, Strengthening the Pluralistic Agricultural Extension System: a
Zimbabwean Case Study, (Harare, Agricultural Research Council), 2008, 666-667.
13. J. Masuku et al, “The Impact of dip tank rehabilitation”, 115.
14. Interview with Mr and Mrs Nleya, Bulawayo, 30/09/2019.
15. D. M Chavunduka, “The Lutheran World Foundation”, 382.

60
16. N. Assan, “Genetic improvement and utilization of indigenous cattle breeds for beef
production in Zimbabwe: past, present and future prospects”, Scientific Journal of
Agricultural No.1, 2012, 2-3.
17. B. Cousins, “The Elephant in the Dark” in B. Cousins (ed.), People, Land and
Livestock: Proceedings of a Workshop on the Socio-Economic Dimensions of
Livestock Production in the Communal Lands of Zimbabwe, (Harare, Centre for
Applied Social Sciences), 1989, 21-23.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid, p24.
20. Ibid.
21. F.M. Chinembiri, “Livestock Extensions Programmes and Packages in the Communal
Lands of Zimbabwe” in (ed.) B. Cousins, People, Land and Livestock: Proceedings of
a Workshop on the Socio-Economic Dimensions of Livestock Production in the
Communal Lands of Zimbabwe, (Harare, Centre for Applied Social Sciences), 1989,
139.
22. N.Assan, “Genetic improvement and utilization”, 6.
23. Ibid, 14.

61
CONCLUSION

By means of summary, one has to note that the Matabeleland Beef Industry, being an
important pillar in the economy of the country, goes through a lot trials and tribulations.
Sometimes a year feels like a millennium, and by this dissertation’s standards; thirty years
feels like a lifetime. The piece of steak that has come to be a regular feature in the
Zimbabwean and certainly the Matabeleland staple diet goes through so many processes.

An entire industry dedicated to bringing joy and pleasure to the palettes of millions of
consumers within and outside Matabeleland and Zimbabwe is always bound to have pitfalls
and stumbles here and there. The researcher would find out that during the thirty year period
between the golden year of attaining independence 1980 up to 2010, various events would
shape this industry. Regardless of how long and deep the Matabeleland Beef Industry during
the post-independence era may and should be viewed; it did not ace everything thrown at it.
However, it certainly survived its most turbulent years. The researcher went on to explore the
Matabeleland Beef Industry looking at its history, the evolution and manifestations it
underwent, the challenges and lastly the efficacy of the methods brought forward to deal with
the challenges. Negative and positive traits emerged out of the aforementioned chapters,
making the Matabeleland Beef Industry a Jekyll and Hyde character. As far as the history was
concerned, key elements that includes the circumstances behind its establishment in which
the disappointment of the failure to find a second Rand in Matabeleland was a topic that was
thoroughly explored, the key figures; personalities and institutions that were pivotal to its
establishment was another facet that was dealt with.

Getting down to the meat of the issue, the creation of the parastatal RECSCO was a landmark
moment for the Matabeleland Beef Industry and its significance was an outlook that could not
be left out. The last two portions of chapter 1 dealt with what was arguably the industry’s
most testing and painful times – the pre-independence era that was characterized by the
placement of sanctions on Rhodesia, and how this led to trade embargos that were
detrimental to the institution as this meant that one of its major partners got chopped off.

62
The second major difficulty pre-independence that the Matabeleland Beef Industry came
across was the War of Liberation and all its politics of wanton destruction and loss of life
meant that the industry got heavily affected as it could not operate in times of great fighting.

Chapter 2 focused on the evolution of the industry post-independence, and paid particular
attention to the different cattle breeds that have constantly changed as the industry matured.
The always-changing roles and purposes of cattle is another element that could not be left
out, and it fit perfectly on the evolutionary part of the Matabeleland beef industry as breeds
come and go, and to those that have remained, they become the basis and subject for
fascination. The role of the remodelled CSC is a key topic, due to the fact that as it acquired
and underwent a facelift, it becomes a subject of great interest to see what has really changed.
The eagle eyed might be tempted into playing ‘spot the difference’. The challenges that the
Matabeleland beef industry goes through became the basis for chapter 3, and here the
researcher went all out to reveal the constant and recurring headaches of diseases and
pestilences, climate change, gender inequality; poverty and marginalization, feeding and
nutrition and other associated dietary headaches that tend to plague cows in Matabeleland and
last but certainly not least the always controversial land issue. The last chapter naturally
looked at how successful were the methods put forward to deal with the above listed
challenges were, and major highlights include analysing the strength of foreign aid as a
substantial solution to perennial problems. Also the issue of the interventions of the
government was brought up as well.

To dismiss the Matabeleland Beef Industry as an unimportant or overrated institution is

almost treasonous – not only does it possess the history to show how far it come and where it
is headed, but its significance is always underlined by its longevity. And it really does age
like fine wine. However, in order for the industry to regain its lost jazz; ranchers,
government, NGOs and various stakeholders need to identify ways in which they can
complement each other so as to provide one solid objective.

63
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