Judgment reserved in sheep shipment case

Kuwaiti-based animal exporter Al Mawashi and its parent company, Livestock Transport and Trading Company (LTTC), are haemorrhaging R1m every day that the interdict prohibiting them from exporting 72 000 sheep from East London in SA to the Middle East remains in place. A Daily Dispatch report says the companies’ counsel, Advocate Johan de Waal SC, told Eastern Cape High Court (Makhanda) Judge Nceba Dukada that their ship was costing R500 000 a day to sit idle in the East London port and the sheep living at a feedlot were eating their way through a further R500 000 worth of food a day. Since the interim interdict was granted in June, the companies had forked out over R60m. The NSPCA is arguing for the court to keep in place the interim interdict pending the outcome of a much bigger court matter in which it will seek to stop the export of sheep by ship to the Middle East altogether.

The Red Meat Industry Forum (RMIF) laid blame at the door of the national Agriculture & Rural Development Department. The Daily Dispatch report notes the RMIF’s counsel, Advocate Hilton Epstein SC, said it would strenuously oppose the second part of the NSPCA’s application in which it sought to stop the export of sheep by ship across the equator altogether. He said the red meat industry worked hard to keep the respect of the public and this included a strict code of conduct which precluded cruelty to animals. Epstein said none of the problems would have arisen if the department had not been derelict in carrying out its duty of regulating and supervising animal export. He proposed a novel middle ground in which Dukada would lift the interdict but impose strict conditions, including that the department fulfil its duty of monitoring Al Mawahsi’s compliance with international standards and SA’s Animal Protection Act in every aspect of its conduct during export. He proposed a structural interdict requiring the department to report to the court on the steps it had taken to ensure compliance by Al Mawashi. Epstein also insisted that the ship should only be allowed to load 56 000 sheep and not the full shipment. The report notes Dukada reserved judgment.

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